Silence
by Just-Me-and-My-Brain
Summary: "Silence speaks when words cannot..." But what if you don't like what it has to say? There's a new kid at the DWMA and she's not your typical student. But when questions about her past start to be raised and Lord Death refuses to give answers, Death the Kid starts to wonder if there's more to her than meets the eye- and if her past could pose a risk to everyone in the present...
1. Prologue

_Hi! This is my FIRST FAN FICTION __**EVER**__! Now, I know what you think: "So what? You're going to say the same thing as most other people: 'Please go easy on me- This is my first fan fiction'" __**WRONG! **__(Fool!) I am different! I SAY: "Yes it's my first fan fiction: all the more reason for you to critique me- tell me what to improve on, what to change, I WANT TO BE BETTER!" (-Truth hurts sometimes, if you want to hear nothing but good things... you're sorta out of luck.)_

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><p><strong>Silence<strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Prologue (Bad News in the Middle of the Night?)<strong>

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><p>Kid sat on his bed, trying to make his pajama bottoms symmetrical- the right leg seemed to be sinking a little bit more over his ankle then the left pajama leg. <em>Hmm, still not right.<em> He leaned down to adjust the pants again when he heard someone panting. Forgetting about his asymmetricalness he rushed to the window and looked down to see a tall, skinny, grey haired man running into the school carrying the body of someone.

_Who's that? Is that Professor Stein? Why is he going into the school like that? I better go warn dad! _Kid slipped on a t-shirt and left his room. Leaving the mansion he ran through the streets, across the courtyard, and into the school.

His bare feet pounded the cold, empty hallway floor as he ran down to the Death Room.

"Dad! There's someone who came in and they-" Kid was cut off, in the room stood Professor Stein with the person, who he could now make out to be a girl-though he still didn't recognize her, she looked to be about his age, his father stood over them both and was quietly talking with the man. They raised their heads when they heard him come in.

"Yes Kiddo?" Lord Death stepped in front of the scene, blocking his view.

"Well, I was just going to tell you about that." Kid pointed around his father to the man.

"Why don't you go back to bed?" Lord Death sounded friendly but Kid knew that it was an order- not a suggestion.

"Okay." Kid turned around and walked out of the room, his father shut the doors behind him.

Kid took three more steps, each slower than the last before turning around and propping his head against the door.

"So, what do you think?" Kid heard Stein say.

"I doubt she'll make it through the night. If she does, well… we can talk about it in the morning." Lord Death sounded as if he were trying to keep control of a situation that had already lost all control.

"Alright." The Professor sighed.

"Also, if you could make the funeral preparations for-" Lord Death stopped. Kid could hear the rustling of his cloak.

The doors suddenly flew open, Kid jumped backward and tripped over his feet, landing hard on his hands and tailbone. A giant hand reached down and grabbed a fistful of the front of Kid's t-shirt and lifted him off the ground.

"Kid, I already told you once to go to bed. If you don't listen this time I might need to ground you." Lord Death dropped his friendly voice and his past voice came into acknowledgement.

Kid knew his dad didn't mean to do anything but his hand was painfully pinching and grinding into his chest. He leaned away, trying to relieve some of the pain.

"Have I made myself clear?" Death growled.

"Uh huh!" Kid managed to grunt out- his was trying to hold his breath to keep from groaning at the pain that was infecting his breathing rhythm.

"Good, go back to the house. _Now._" Kid felt the hand let go, and the slight wind rush before hitting the floor.

"Yes father." Kid ignored the pain, which throbbed more painfully with each beat of his heart, picked himself off of the ground, turned quickly out of adrenaline and fear, and started hurrying down the hall.

"You get a good night's rest now, Kiddo." Lord Death, his voice now back to its high pitched friendliness, waved his hand before shutting the doors again.

_Children, sometimes they're so hard to control. What curious things._ He sighed before turning to face Dr. Stein again.

"As I was saying, if you could make the funeral preparations for the rest of the family that would be wonderful." Lord Death was looking down at the unconscious girl.

"Yeah, no problem." Stein looked up at the hunched figure in the spiky black cloak. "I'm sorry we couldn't get there sooner. I know that they were close friends of yours."

"It's fine. Life will go on." Lord Death nodded as if reassuring himself. "At least you got there in time to fight for her. One life might be saved." He nodded at the girl.

"Actually, when we got there she was fighting them." Stein informed.

"What?" Lord Death turned around and looked at him, shocked, before tilting his head back down to continue watching the girl. "A 15 year old girl was fighting a witch and a man that was powerful enough to soon become a kishin? Impossible."

"I never said she was winning. She was certainly fighting hard enough to keep them from killing her when we got there. Did you tell her we were coming?" Stein looked up at Lord Death.

Death shook his head. "No. But if she's powerful enough to fight like that maybe she could sense you."

"Yeah." Stein went to pick her up to leave.

"Where's her weapon?" Lord Death asked the question that had suddenly come across his mind.

"She doesn't have one." Stein smiled, "She fights with the same technique I do… she's just as strong too."

"Wow. Amazing. A 15 year old child, she's as old as Kid, yet she's almost as powerful as a level 3 meister?" Lord Death sighed. _I guess I have another reaper child on my hands now._

"Her father went to school with you right?" Stein gazed at nothing.

"Yes, we were both reapers." Lord Death nodded, remembering. "There were, of course, eight of us to begin with, him and I included. We separated and went to live in different places I stayed here in Nevada and started a school. He moved to Michigan to settle down with his family. He married a wonderful woman, Ari. She was a meister like you." He sighed.

Stein seemed to hear how Death's voice was getting more depressed as he went on. "So the child is a grim reaper." He was trying to speed up the story, to prevent Death from feeling anymore pain.

"Yes. You see, Stein, if a reaper has a child then the child will often be a reaper also. This can be influenced by if the other person is a reaper or not- an example is the other daughter they had. She wasn't a reaper, much to their shock."

"What will you do? To explain how you now have _two_ reapers going to the school." Stein frowned.

"I think that if you just start a rumor about another reaper coming to the school, word will get around quickly; just like it did with Kid." Lord Death nodded.

"Very well." Stein picked the girl back up.

"Be careful what you say though Stein- we don't want any problems. If possible try to explain to the students that the reason she doesn't have a weapon is because her soul wavelength doesn't work well with other things. Don't say it in such a way though, that they underestimate her- she's powerful. We don't want to catch the other students by surprise when she fights." Lord Death walked to a different standing point four feet away, tired of standing in one place so long.

"Yes, I understand, Lord Death." Stein nodded before starting to leave the room to head toward the medical ward.

"Stein, don't say _anything_ about her family. Just say that she's from Michigan and be done with that subject." Death raised his voice to one of authority.

Stein nodded and disappeared between the two large doors.

_If only I could have a moments rest- maybe I could handle things more easily. Thank goodness no students were around- I would have needed to maintain my "bouncy" attitude._ Lord Death left the Death room and walked down the hall toward the doors. He entered the cool night air and drew in a deep breath before crossing the wide courtyard, walking down two flights of stairs, turning a couple corners and walking down a couple streets until he got to his house. Slowly he entered the house, and listened, he wasn't sure if Kid was still awake. When he heard nothing he crept down the carpeted hallway to his room, as he went to turn the knob he stopped. _Maybe I should apologize to Kid. I think I scared him. Even if I didn't I probably haven't helped his recovery from that mission I sent him on._ Lord Death turned around and quietly opened Kid's door.

Kid lay, sound asleep in bed- the t-shirt was off now and Death could see the stitches across his shoulder that were put there after he got back from the Pyramid of Anubis, there was also a bruise starting to form where he had grabbed Kid's shirt, _I caused that, _he thought bitterly.

Lord Death sighed and quietly shut the door, crossed the hallway and entered his own in order to try to get as much sleep as possible in the five hours he had.


	2. The New Student

**Chapter 2: The New Student (Another Reaper joins the class?)**

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><p><p>

It had been a week since the night that Professor Stein brought someone in. _I wonder what's up. Since a week ago my father and Stein have been acting slightly off._ Kid sat in the classroom waiting for Professor Stein to begin talking.

"So class," Stein began. "I've heard that there's been a rumor going around." All whispering in the class room stopped.

"A rumor about another reaper coming to the school, I'm here to put those rumors to rest. They're true." The room seemed to all inhale at the same time.

"Yes. The girl is very powerful; we just wanted to warn you of that so that you don't underestimate her." Stein nodded.

"Why would we do that?" One of the students interrupted. Many students nodded their heads in agreement.

"Because she doesn't fight with a weapon; her soul wavelength isn't compatible with many other peoples, she seems to be able to control that- to make her soul match with another person. She chooses not to. She fights alone." Stein chuckled, thinking of himself.

"When will she be coming?" The same student who had interrupted before spoke out of turn again.

A knife flew within inches of his head.

"Stop interrupting me, or I _won't_ miss next time. I don't know when she's coming exactly but…"

The classroom door opened.

"Ah," Stein swiveled around in his chair. "Class, this is Neko Grey. _She's_ a new student that'll be joining us."

Whispers instantly started to go around.

Kid boringly glanced over but when he did he felt as if he would have a heart attack. The girl looked exactly like the one he had seen a week ago, only now she wore black pants, a long sleeve white, grey, and blue plaid shirt, and rectangle like brown shoes.

"How about you go sit next to Death the Kid? He's the one on the fourth level, seven desks in. You can have desk six." Stein pointed up to the desk and lowered his hand once she nodded and started walking up the stairs.

Kid's heart rate jumped when she sat down next to him. _What do I say? What do I do? Ugh, why am I so useless sometimes- A complete idiot?_

"Hello." Kid watched her take out a black notebook and a pencil from her backpack.

She looked up and nodded at him, he saw then that she wore copper wire glasses and her eyes seemed to be both blue and grey at the same time, she turned her attention back to her things she opened the notebook, folded it to only show one page and began writing notes about Stein's lesson.

Kid blushed until he was so hot he felt as if he had a fever. He returned to watching Stein roll around in his chair and stayed that way until the end of class.


	3. Lunch Time

**Chapter 3: Lunch Time (Time to Meet Neko?)**

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><p><p>

The bell rang for lunch after three hours of _Importance of Dissection_, _History of Magic and its significance to the Meisters,_ and _Calculations for battle._ Kid waited patiently until Neko grabbed her sack lunch out of her backpack and had made her way out of the aisle. He also grabbed his lunch and was just about to talk to her as they reached the doorway when-

"Hi, I'm Blackstar!" Blackstar shoved Kid out of the way and sent him tumbling into a chemistry set. "I bet you've heard of me, huh? Well since your new here I'll be nice and give you my autograph." Blackstar opened his eyes, his thumb still pointing to himself, and looked in front of him to realize that Neko was already starting to walk away.

"Hey! Wait up!" Blackstar ran ten feet and walked alongside her. "I'm as strong as steel- betcha' didn't know that! No one in this school is as strong as me! Go ahead and try to hurt me, I won't feel a thing!" Blackstar had his eyes closed and his thumb pointed again; he was concentrating so much on feeling superior that he didn't even see the powerful roundhouse kick she sent at the side of his head.

Blackstar felt two strong, heavy hits to his head before collapsing into blackness and multicolored dots.

Kid was watching from the doorway.

"Go ahead and try to hurt me, I won't feel a thing!" He listened to the gloat that he had heard only two days ago. Then something surprising happened; something in Neko's eyes told him that she decided to take up that offer and before he could blink she had whipped her leg up in a full roundhouse and struck Blackstar across the face- sending him crashing a dent into the wall and crumpling to the ground.

_First person _ever_, I think, to actually challenge Blackstar to what he said. Guess he's not so tough after all._

He left the classroom and walked toward Neko as she turned to start back down the hall.

"Hey," Kid yelled to get her attention; she turned and stopped, waiting for him to catch up. "Do you know where to go?" Kid reached her and they began walking down the hallway.

Neko nodded.

They paced down the hall, passing door after door.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Kid looked from her down the hall to the cafeteria.

Neko shrugged, paused, and then shook her head 'no'.

Kid nodded. "That's cool." He moved his hand across himself and put it next to her, "Nice to meet you, I'm Death the Kid."

Neko looked at him and nodded- she even offered him a sad, small smile for a second to replace the relaxed frown she usually wore- but she didn't shake his hand.

Kid lowered his hand back down to his side, feeling slightly rejected.

"Okay, well we're at the cafeteria. I'm going to go eat lunch- there aren't assigned seats so you can sit anywhere. See you later." Kid hurried to walk away and sat down with Maka and Soul at a large circular table.

"Why don't you invite the new kid over?" Make was looking past Kid to the cafeteria entrance where Neko still stood, looking for a place to sit.

"I don't think she'd want to sit with _us_. She seems to sort of ignore everything that has to do with manners and politeness." Kid spoke to Maka as he dumped his symmetrical lunch out of the bag.

"What do you mean?" Maka looked at him.

"She wouldn't shake my hand or speak to me at all, no matter how friendly I tried to be." Kid grumbled.

"I'm sure she's just shy." Before Kid could protest anymore Maka waved and motioned for the girl to come to the table.

"Hi. You can sit here, next to me. There's four other people still coming." Maka smiled at Neko while she sat down.

"Hey, Kid, where's Blackstar?" Soul looked around the large room.

"Neko roundhouse kicked him in the hallway." Kid motioned to Neko as he took a bite from the direct middle edge of his sandwich.

"Why?" Maka looked up at Kid, then to Neko, then back to Kid- searching for an answer.

"Blackstar was making his regular challenge that he gives to every new kid. She decided to take him up on it." Kid couldn't help but smile at the memory. _About time _someone_ did it!_

"Speaking of Blackstar." Maka was looking back at the cafeteria entrance again.

Kid, Soul, Maka, and Neko watched as the Thompson sisters and Tsubaki helped Blackstar to the table.

He sat down dizzily and looked around the table, his vision quickly focused on Neko. "You? What the heck are you doing here?" He tried point his finger at her, it was off by two inches.

"We invited her to sit here with us." Maka explained.

"But look what she did to me!" Blackstar pointed to the bruises on the side of his head and his forehead.

Neko shrugged.

"Well, you did tell her to." Kid pointed out, everyone was seated now; Patty was sitting on Kid's immediate right- Liz on his left, sitting next to Tsubaki, who was politely sitting next to her meister.

"So?" Blackstar fumed. He looked at Neko, trying to think of something to do as revenge. "As punishment I shall now take your sandwich."

Neko had been taking a sandwich out of a plastic bag during Blackstar's complaints and was about to take a large bite out of it when Blackstar leaned across the table and snatched it out of her hands.

"Mmm, this looks good." Blackstar opened his mouth wide.

Neko suddenly stood up, leaned across the table, and stabbed Blackstar with a fork.

"Ahh!" Blackstar dropped the food, which Neko picked up and set back at her place, Blackstar ripped the fork from his hand.

Neko sat down and bit into her sandwich.

"Why you!" Blackstar reeled back and threw the fork at her.

Without looking up from her food she leaned two inches to the right- the fork missing her by centimeters.

A startled yelp behind her was voiced.

"Oh! S-sorry professor!" Blackstar shook as Professor Stein got up, walked up next to him, pulled the fork from his arm, and stuck it in the kid's head. Blood spurted out of his head and he fell to the floor.

"Blackstar!" Tsubaki was instantly next to him.

It was then that Kid realized how fast Neko had gotten up and how easily she avoided that fork. He tried to process it through his mind but he couldn't.

"So, Kid," Maka interrupted his trying to think. "How's your hair been growing out? Is it Symmetrical again?"

Kid's mood became even happier than before, "yes! It's back to the way it should be." Kid smiled and stabbed at his juice pouch with a straw.

Maka nodded and turned to Neko, who was now enjoying the last few bites of a brownie.

"So Neko," Maka smiled, "Why'd ya decide to come to DWEA?"

Neko looked up into space before she shrugged and ate the last bit of brownie.

"Oh." Maka's tone of voice told Kid that she now felt like he had when he walked into the cafeteria.

"Well, I better go get some food." Patty was about to get up when suddenly the food line ended and a sign was hung that read: **All Out of Food, Sorry.**

"What?" Patty collapsed onto the table, "now I'm going to starve until dinner! It's so long away- I'll die!" She sobbed.

Neko stared at her while she did this, as Patty was about to start crying she heard three light taps next to her ear. She looked up inquisitive to what the noise was and found Neko pushing a cup of apple sauce, a granola bar, a juice pack, and a small, saran wrapped piece of pizza toward her.

"Neko! OH, THANK YOU!" Patty leaned over to hug her but fell over instead- the spot was already empty. She looked around and saw the last bit of Neko walking out of the lunch room.

"See Kid, she's not that bad." Maka smiled as Patty tore away at the food.

"Yeah, I guess she isn't." Kid nodded and continued to eat his food, more quickly than before though.


	4. Fight Test: Part One

_Hello: Just-Me-and-My-Brain here! CHAPTER 4 IS UP!_

_ENJOY!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: Fight Test: Part 1 (Patty vs. Neko?)<strong>

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><p>Death the Kid walked quickly and quietly back to the classroom, Liz and Patty were still with the rest of the group because the bell that signaled the end of the lunch period hadn't rung yet, and technically wouldn't ring for another minute. Still, he needed to know more about this new student. <em>Maybe Professor Stein will tell me something.<em> Kid thought.

Kid stopped and looked at the sign that hung above the door it read: _Class Crescent Moon_.

The first thing he observed when he walked in was that the chalk board on the front wall now had the words _Fight Test_ written on it in Stein's handwriting.

The second thing he saw, to his surprise, was that Neko was already in the room; Stein was talking to her.

He could hear most of the conversation not only because there was nobody else in the room, but also because they hadn't noticed him standing in the room with them yet, so Stein hadn't lowered his voice.

"I know that you don't want to fight in front of the other student's but…" Stein had his back to Kid interrupted, though Kid couldn't hear by what.

"You don't need to have a weapon; it's _your_ fighting style, there's no shame in it." He was interrupted once more. Kid strained to hear Neko, who he figured was the one interrupting Stein, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't hear anything.

Neko nodded, shrugged and, still containing her sad but lighthearted air around her, started to walk around and past the professor; both she and Stein saw Kid then. Neko looked surprised and still calm at the same time, as if she had secretly known that Kid was in the room but hadn't let Professor Stein know. Professor Stein on the other hand seemed both annoyed and surprised.

"Kid, how long have you been standing there?" Stein frowned.

Kid's mouth felt dry- like his throat had been replaced by cotton balls. "Um." Was all he could get out.

Neko bent her head inward as she tried to hide a smile and started walking up to her desk. Kid followed, very embarrassed, after her. He sat down and focused on a spot on his desk that seemed suddenly helpful, as if it could hide him from everyone, but the harder he looked at the spot: the harder he felt Stein's eye's burning into his head: and the more he felt Stein's eyes burning into his head: the deeper he blushed. (And though he didn't want to believe it; the deeper he blushed the closer Neko got to laughing.)

The bell rang after what seemed like an hour, Kid's face was fever temperature and scarlet red.

Students filed in, slowly at first, but faster and faster until the late bell rang and all the kids who couldn't get in fast enough, or waited too long, came hurrying in- hanging their heads at the sight of Stein scowling at them from his spot on his wheeled chair.

Conversations from lunch that were carried into the class room raised in level until the room echoed almost as loud as the cafeteria.

"Quiet!" Stein ordered- the commanding tone in his raised voice caused even the kids who were getting notebooks and pencils to stop and sit up. The class quickly fell into a dead silence.

"Good." Stein nodded. "This afternoon I will be testing each of you in your fighting skills- your defense and offence most of all. The test will be 10 or fewer minute's long- each. They only need to be that long because your opponent will be me. You also will not be requiring your backpacks or purses for this- so leave them here." Stein paused to look at the fear on most of the student's faces, which were panicking at the thought of fighting the insane professor. "We'll be going outside for this, come on." Stein stood up and abandoned his swivel chair in the middle of the room and started to lead the children outside.

Everyone got up and walked next to their weapons, quietly trying to discuss fight plans and weapon forms. Maka and Soul were too focused on plans to notice Kid, as were Blackstar and Tsubaki.

Kid sighed and stood between Liz and Patty and just as he got to the floor he paused and looked back up to see Neko quietly standing on the seventh platform, waiting to be the last person in the line.

"Liz, Patty- stop." Kid ordered the two girls who had kept walking without even noticing that he wasn't between them anymore.

The rest of the group didn't even look at him as they walked around him, but when everyone had passed he could still sense somebody behind him. Kid started walking again.

"What was that about Kid?" Liz looked down at him.

"Stop and look behind you." Kid stopped again- Liz and Patty looked behind them.

Neko was standing a few feet behind them. She waved politely.

"It's Neko." Liz informed Kid.

"Yes, I thought so." Kid sighed, _Idiots- of course it's Neko. Did you think I'd stop for nothing? _

Kid turned and smiled warmly at the girl, Neko in return nodded and gave a small smile- not the sad sort of smile she gave him in the hall- but a real smile. It didn't matter how small it was at that point- his smile widened in return. _I think some progress has been made_.

"Neko!" Patty interrupted their quiet moment. She ran at her, still wanting to give her a hug for the lunch.

Kid watched as Patty leaned forward to hug the girl- Neko spun quickly out of the way, her feet twisting around herself almost the way a ballerina's does, shifting angles and changing speeds to move in a direction. Patty stumbled forward, oblivious that Neko had moved, and after walking farter then logically ought, she stopped and opened her eyes; there was only empty space in front of her. Patty paused, looking around for Neko. She saw Neko behind her and went to try to hug her again, just as she went to wrap her arms around the girl Neko fell into the splits. Patty grunted and pouted her lips in frustration; Patty knelt down, now moving more quickly than before to close her arms around Neko- not wanting to be eluded again. As she leaned forward Neko bent backwards and used her arms to pull herself into a handstand- still in the splits- pushing off the ground with her hands though, she straitened her legs and landed neatly on the ground.

Kid was slightly surprised. _Flexible, she's getting away from Patty quite easily and-_ Kid glanced around him -_and-_ Kid felt his face beading with sweat. "And I'm not symmetrical! Patty get over here right NOW!" Kid was starting to freak out.

Patty stopped trying to get Neko, who she had resorted to chasing in circles around the room, and looked over at Kid.

"Okay!" Patty giggled and skipped over to Kid, who pointed to the spot he wanted her to stand.

"Stop trying to hug her. It's obvious that she doesn't want that. Leave her alone." Kid frowned at Patty.

"Come on." He now looked at Neko although he addressed the group, "Let's go outside, the rest of the group is already out there."

Silently the four of them walked down the hall; the only sound was their footsteps. They listened as the sound of the rest of the group, cheering on whoever was fighting, got louder. They caught up with the group and stepped into the sunlight outside.

They instantly recognized Maka and Soul; they were starting to lose energy. Stein ran up to them and laid out one final kick, hitting Soul away from Maka, and the round was done.

"Very good Maka, you lasted seven minutes." Stein praised Maka as she walked sadly off the fighting grounds.

"Ah, Kid, I'm glad you're here- it's your turn." Stein smiled and looked toward the doorway they were standing in.

Kid's face flushed, he felt someone pat him on the shoulder. Turning around he saw both Blackstar and Neko standing there. _Who patted my shoulder? Wait! Blackstar is mad at Neko- they'll fight! No, Neko's fast. She'll win. Maybe not, Blackstar's strong. _All of these thoughts passed through Kid's mind in the three seconds, the time it took to get to the battle ground. Once he stepped on that, his mind blanked out.


	5. Fight Test: Part Two

_Hi, sorry I haven't updated in a bit- suffering from the evil that is a common cold._

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: Fight Test: Part 2 (Kid's Epic Battle?)<strong>

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><p>"Okay, fight." Stein barked out as soon as Kid got to the middle of the stone circle.<p>

Kid had no time to react; Stein was next to him in less than a second.

"Hello." Stein smiled insanely before doing his soul technique to blast Kid twenty feet across the rocks.

Kid groaned as he felt his clothes and the rocks rubbing away his skin. He looked up from his position on the ground, Stein was running, more slowly than last, at him again- his weapons stood, tensed, a few feet away from the center of the battle ground.

"Liz! Patty!" Kid called for his weapons.

"Right!" Liz and Patty called back at the same time; they leaned forward and pink light glowed from the shifting weapons as they flew into Kid's hands almost immediately after Kid had picked himself off of the ground. Kid caught the guns and twirled them around his fingers skillfully before catching the triggers with his pinkies and aiming at Stein.

"Do you really think you can beat me?" Stein laughed. He leapt into the air and as he came down electricity appeared between his hands.

"It wouldn't surprise me, especially with the state _you're_ in." Kid muttered to himself as he leaned back, looked up, and aimed his pistols. Shooting two rays of light out of the twin pistols, he hit Stein square in the chest.

"Oh, we've been working on aim, have we?" Stein easily recovered from the shots and landed gently on his feet, he charged Kid, running again at full force. Two lightning bolts burst from his hands and threw Kid into the air.

"Ah!" Kid landed hard on his hip, his hands instinctively tightened around the guns so that they didn't fall out of his grip. He looked up just in time to see Stein. Kid shifted his weight and, still in a sitting position, shot a rapid fire of bullets at the professor; Stein flew back, again easily recovering and landing on his feet.

"Is that it? Too bad, I thought that you were supposed to be a great reaper." Stein called out, bluntly mocking Kid.

Kid stood up and looked across the arena to Stein.

"Liz. Patty." Kid kept his eyes on the professor.

"Right!" They both called back. A bright blue orb started to build around Kid as he charged his soul wavelength.

"Oh no, you don't!" Stein blasted a bright green light from his hands; it zigzagged through the air until it hit Kid.

Kid yelped as he was thrown across the ground again, his air efficiently knocked out of him.

"You won't win." Kid panted, he dug his fingers into the ground to distract his mind from the pain in his chest.

"I believe I will. 'Cause you're weak, you're letting your feeling for friends get in the way of showing your true strength, your true power." Stein explained, his hands moved together in the fluid motion of lighting a cigarette and sticking it loosely in his mouth.

Kid growled in frustration and anger as he stood up again and charged at Stein, his feet catching and shoving across the ground, his guns, quietly wondering the whole outcome of this, held firmly at his side.

Stein paused to let an insane smile grow across his face, his cigarette caught between his teeth, before also starting to charge at Death the Kid.

They ran at each other, stopping dead in the center of the circle. Stein had his fist drawn back, his soul wavelength creating electricity which flickered between the knuckles of his hand; Kid had both pistols aimed at Stein's head.

"Hey Kid." Stein shook with insanity, a light sizzle came into the air as the cigarette fell from Stein's mouth and was extinguished on the ground below.

"What?" Kid growled, his brain momentarily forgetting how to blink so that he never took his eyes off of Dr. Stein.

"I just wanted to remind you that you have _very_ unsymmetrical hair." Stein giggled.

And like that the battle was over- it was a total of two point five minutes.

"Trash! I'm nothing, horrible- disgusting. I deserve to die; I'm awful- simply awful!" Kid was sobbing on his hands and knees. Liz and Patty knelt over him trying to reassure him otherwise, though to absolutely no avail.

"Go back to the group Kid." Stein frowned, no sympathy in his voice.

Liz and Patty helped Kid stand up from off the ground. Kid waved his weapons away and weakly stumbled back to where Neko was sitting before he collapsed and restarted his sobbing on the steps of the school.

"You got this?" Liz looked down at Neko, who was staring- both confused and concerned- at Kid, who sat a few feet away from her- sobbing his eyes out.

Neko looked up at Liz, who had her hand rested on her hip, and nodded 'yes'.

"Okay then." Liz shrugged and turned away. "Come on, Patty." She called to her giggling sister.

"Coming!" Patty turned on her heel and ran childishly, acting like she was now an airplane (sound affects and all) after her sister.

Neko kept her distance from Kid, staying in her original spot a few feet away from him.

The step that Kid was using, his head buried in his arms, was now producing a small puddle.

Nobody else seemed to notice, or care about, Kid's highly depressed state- everybody was to focused on the battle at hand; Stein vs. Blackstar and Tsubaki.

Neko quietly scooted closer to the black clothed shaking figure; she dug around her pocket before lightly tapping his head, which was covered in slightly messed black and white hair.

Kid looked up finally, after the third set of taps; Neko could see that his eyes were now bloodshot. Kid looked exhaustedly upon a dangling handkerchief held out in front of him by Neko.

"No! I don't deserve that!" Kid buried his head deeper into his arms and sobbed harder then before. "I'm scum- no, worse than scum; the germs that live on scum… no, wrong again; the germs are far better than me." Kid sobbed harder still.

Neko sighed heavily.

"Don't deny it; you hate me! You think I'm garbage. Its fine, I do to." Kid sniffled. Another series of taps to his head were felt. Kid looked peaked out from over his arms and looked up at the girl sitting beside him.

Neko shook her head convincingly but gently at the same time and held the tissue closer to him, urging him to the handkerchief.

Kid still frowned but felt himself calming down; he gently took it from her and blew his nose into it. He pulled himself into a sitting position beside her, his body still shaking a little from his recent crying. He was about to say his thanks when he saw that she was writing something on a sticky note with a pen. She tore the paper away from the pad and, after shoving the pen back into her side pocket, gave it to him.

_Calm down. Clear your mind and take deep breaths._ Kid had to read the note multiple times through his, by then; cold tears, before he finally realized what it said. He obediently closed his eyes and took a breath.

Kid soon sat calmly sat next to Neko on the stairs, working hard to re-straighten his clothes and hair.

Neko gave a satisfied nod and, reacting to the sound of applause, turned to hear who was going next.

"Next; Neko, will you come out here?" Stein chuckled.

**R+R**


	6. Fight Test: Part 3

**Chapter 6: Neko vs. Dr. Stein (Will it be a fight to remember?)**

Neko sighed and nodded, slowly standing up from her sitting spot next to Kid. She walked through the staring crowd and stepped onto the battle ground, now skidded with blood and cloth fragments. She glanced behind herself into the crowd and saw that Kid had followed her and was now in the front of the crowd, watching her every step.

"Ready? Go!" Stein repeated himself like with every other student; beginning the fight _as soon_ as they stepped into the middle ring of the circle.

_Students should be ready for anything; but they're not._ He thought, so annoyed at the truth in it that he felt his mouth move into a scowl as he raced across the rocks toward the next opponent.

Stein charged at Neko, running at such a fast speed that everyone else could barely follow his movements.

Neko watched him and as he got close to her she sidestepped and stuck out her foot.

_What?_ Stein tripped and fell the ground, rolling to a stop.

The conversations in the crowd stopped, now everyone was suddenly watching with highly increased interest to see how long the new kid would last.

Stein used his electricity to push himself back into a standing position. "I'll get you now!" Stein ran forward.

Neko jumped at just the right moment and flipped over Stein's head. She landed and spun on her heels- facing Stein who was now turning around to face her. _I'm afraid that it's the other way around, Professor Stein. _She smiled wickedly before sending out a strong bolt of her soul's electricity at him.

"No!" Stein redirected her bolt to shoot off into the air, the power from the bolt causing him to slide back a few inches

Neko smiled and took off running, using his distraction to her advantage. _You won't win! _She came up behind him and launched a high kick into the side of his head, sending him off his feet to the ground, the left over lightning jolting into his arm.

"Ha!" Stein winced at the pain and rolled out from under Neko; still on the ground he shot multiple lines of lightning at her.

"Oof!" Neko flew backwards but flipped herself over and landed on her feet, skidding across the ground to a stop. Stein stood up and shot another bolt at her. She fell neatly into the splits and let the random green lines fly over her head.

"Ahh!" Stein was up on his feet and halfway across the circle by the time that Neko had pulled herself out of the splits. Turning around to face him she stood her ground, Stein saw this and stopped. Both of them watched each other, waiting to see who would attack first.

Neko looked at him, and upon seeing the look of insanity that he was giving her she decided to end it. She charged Stein and, just as Stein swung his fist out to catch her face, she threw her legs out from under herself and slid between his legs, the professor's fist missed her by centimeters.

"Ha!" Neko spun, still on the ground, and tried to sweep his legs out from under him.

Stein jumped and turned in midair, aiming a kick at her head.

Neko, without taking her eyes off of his face, caught his ankle and twisted, sending him crashing to his elbows in the bricks.

"Ah!" Stein yelped with pain and sent his other foot at the girl. A sharp, heavy pain erupted in his foot.

Neko's head whipped back as she took a shoe to her mouth, she was thrown backward and hit her head hard against the ground.

"It's time to end this!" Stein pulled himself up, trying to avoid putting pressure on his broken ankle.

Neko nodded in agreement as she stood up.

The professor aimed a bolt of his soul wavelength at Neko and fired. Neko sidestepped and sent a bolt of her own electricity, bright with green and purple colors, at Stein. Stein saw the light but it was moving too quickly to block.

Stein flew through the air; as he went to flip himself around another bolt of lightning hit him. He fell, stunned, through the air and hit his head against the ground, knocking him unconscious.

A silence filled the air as everyone stopped breathing; soon after the same air erupted into applause, whistles, and cheers.

"Whoa, Neko, that was amazing! Maybe if you work hard enough you could be as good as me one day." Blackstar smiled, bruises from his fight with Dr. Stein started to appear.

"No," Death the Kid came up behind him a slapped the back of his head. "She _is_ as good as you; much better actually."

Neko smiled, she knew that she was blushing a little, though whether it was from the relief that the fight was over or all the complements, she didn't know.

"What's up? What's up? What's up? What is up?" A well known, high-pitched, comical voice came up behind the students.

"Hi, Lord Death!" The students smiled up at him.

"Hey!" Death waved happily back at them. "So what happened? Why the sudden excitement?"

Everyone instantly started trying to explain it, yelling over one another until the air was almost vibrating from the noise.

"Okay, okay, settle down." Lord Death held up his hand, the group shut up. "Kiddo, do you know what happened?"

Kid nodded. "Yes, we all needed to take the fight test- Neko was the last person on the list to be tested. She just beat Stein."

"Well congrats Neko!" Death clapped his hands together and brought them apart to point with both hands at Neko.

Neko nodded and blushed even redder.

_But still, if she didn't kill Stein; it's most likely that _I _will. That idiot knew darn well that she was still recovering, serves him right to be beaten by a child that's four times weaker than normal._ Lord Death laughed at the thought.

"Neko, come with me." Lord Death motioned for her to follow him. "The rest of you, courtesy of Neko, are allowed to leave school early today upon the fact that your teacher is unable to function properly."

More cheering erupted throughout the group.


	7. The Death Room

_Hello, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all of the people who have added this to their favorites, marked it for alerts, or even just read it. I would also like to specaly thank: starlight3395 for being the FIRST PERSON to send me a review! THANKS! Now, please enjoy! (PS: My profile picture is of me... it's also of Neko. :) It started off being me... but I changed it a bit to more fit her character)_**  
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**Chapter 7: The Death Room (Just a Talk?)**

"Yes, I wanted to ask you something Neko." Lord Death stood in front of her on the platform that sat in the middle of the Death Room.

Neko looked up at him, her face still relaxed in its frown, but her eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"Will you punch me? As hard as you possibly can? Please?" Lord Death bounced up and down and looked at her, turning the top half of his body impossibly sideways.

Neko raised her eyebrow, suddenly questioning his sanity. _He knows what I did to Professor Stein, right? What's going on here? There's a catch in his simple question; what is it though?_

"Come on, just do it!" Lord Death stopped bouncing and watched her.

Neko looked into the black swirls of eye sockets once again before drawing back and throwing a punch into… thin air?

"Missed me!" Lord Death's voice laughed behind her.

Neko turned around and looked at Death, who was once again bouncing; comprehending and sly expressions came across her face. She threw another punch.

"Wow, you have horrible aim." Lord Death was behind her again. He looked down and saw that Neko's eyes showed a plan, and though Lord Death knew that she most likely wouldn't try to kill him- he was suddenly weary of what she was thinking.

Neko threw another punch, and as Death disappeared and reappeared behind her she activated her soul's electric charge.

"You missed me again- Oof!" Lord Death was knocked off the platform by a ball of electricity that Neko had formed and guided as she swung around to face him again.

"Very good, nobody else, not even Stein, has been able to beat me that quickly. That was very smart thinking on your part Neko." Lord Death praised her. "That was all I wanted. Thank you." Lord Death gave a slight bow.

Neko nodded and bowed back.

It was nearly two hours later; a time spent checking in with Stein (who was the "proud" owner of the newest concussion _and_ broken ankle in the school), getting blood tests done from the nurse, and sitting in the cafeteria: sipping juice.

Lord Death and Neko were walking outside the school on their way across the courtyard.

"Until we can find a place for you to stay in the dorms of find you an apartment close to the school you're welcome to stay at Gallows Mansion. I'm sure that Kiddo wouldn't mind having you there. He could show you around and everything." Lord Death walked with Neko down the steps at the far end of the courtyard.

"I'll just give you some quick directions. To get to the house; once you walk down to the end of this street, that way," Lord Death pointed to the left. "Turn right and walk down to the end of _that_ street. If you turn left again and walk to the corner of that street and turn right on the street you're on the corner of, walk down to the end of the street and its right there." Death gave a thumbs up and patted her on the back, "That's all there is to it."

Neko nodded, thinking over all the direction she just received, and turned to start walking down the street.

"Hang on a minute!" Death extended his arm, grabbed her, and pulled her back to where he was standing.

Neko seemed oddly shaken up by the small amount of physical contact she had just received.

"Sorry." Death quickly regretted his actions as he remembered that, no matter how much she didn't show it, she was still in a _lot_ of pain physically; from the fight a week ago, and mentally; from the events that occurred at said fight. "I just wanted to talk a bit more."

Neko nodded and followed the tall, happy figure to the stairs and stayed there.

Death was sat down on the staircase. He looked at Neko and gently patted the spot next to him, inviting her to sit down.

She did so.

"You know that I was very good friends with your father, don't you?" Lord Death decided not to beat around the bush.

Neko nodded, "Yeah, I know."

"So she can speak!" The grim reaper made himself sound shocked.

Neko laughed a little bit, her face broke into a large smile.

"And she can laugh too?" Death covered his "mouth" with his big, gloved hands. "Oh, the things you learn every day."

"My dad told me stories about you and him; stories about things that happened to you while you were growing up together in that reaper school." Neko nodded.

"Yeah, we had some crazy missions in that place." Memories of him playing with the other reapers and of fighting alongside them came into Death's mind. "You're father taught you the three rules reapers were told to follow; I can tell by the way you act. I just wanted to let you know that here at DWMA we don't follow most of them."

Neko shrugged, "Yeah, but it doesn't matter; I've already found out what happens when you don't follow the rules."

Lord Death, remembering the number one rule, added, "You need to trust somebody though."

"Yeah, I know." Neko nodded, her eyes drifting up to look at the sky which was now, if ever so slowly, taking on a pinkish tint from the coming sunset.

"Trust is needed in friendship." Death looked at her; the sky was being reflected off of her glasses.

"Not necessarily." Neko argued she neither looked at Death nor did her tone of voice change while she argued against him.

Shinigami-sama decided that it was time to get her to the house, "Do you trust anyone here though?" Death stood up and turned to look at her.

"Yes." Neko replied and offered her hand for him to help her up. He gently grabbed it and pulled Neko to her feet.

"I'll come with you to the house to help explain to Kiddo what's happening." Death let go of Neko's hand and bounced next to her as they walked down the street. _Good kid, she's been through a lot over this past week though. I need to find a nickname for her, like I did with Kid. I also need to… I- I- I'm getting attached to her; I feel like I did when I started raising Kid. My best friend's daughter, would it be okay to adopt? _Death looked down at Neko, who was walking calmly by his side. _No! No, what am I thinking? But- I_, He sighed, _already though? A week and I'm already this attached to her? It wouldn't matter anyways, it would be the same as it is with Kid; making a clear difference between son and student; no matter how hard it would be. That would be fine, I'm sure that I could do the same for her. _

Neko stopped; Lord Death sensed this and stopped too. He looked around and saw that they were at his house.

"Oh, well then… here we are!" Lord Death opened the gate, holding it for Neko, and walked up to the house. "Uh, better let me go first." He stepped ahead of her and opened the door.

"Hello, hello, hello!" Lord Death called into the house.

Neko stood behind him, standing silently on the porch, waiting to be invited inside.

"Father, is that you?" Kid came from around the corner, holding a glass of water in each hand.

"Yes, that's nice." Death pointed to the two cups. "Are you getting a drink for Liz or Patty?"

"No, why would you think that?" Kid's face showed slight confusion. "Anyways, what are you doing here? Especially so early; it's only 4:30."

"So your old man can't just drop by whenever?" Death somehow made half of his body bend slightly to one side.

"I guess not but still, there needs to be some reason you're here." Kid looked up at his dad, waiting for a response.

"Yeah, you're right." Lord Death pointed at Kid with his abnormal sized hands. "I came because I wanted to explain something to you. Neko, please come in." Death sidestepped to allow Neko to walk into the house. Kid saw her and straitened himself to a more formal position.

"Neko doesn't have a place in Death City to stay yet, so I offered to let her stay here." Death explained happily.

"Well… um…" Kid looked from his father to Neko and back again, his face scrunched in uncomfortableness. "Welcome."

"I trust that you'll be able to show her around the house, and find a room for her to sleep in." Lord Death bounced in the doorway.

"Yes, of course." Kid nodded tightly.

"Good, see ya later then Kiddo!" Lord Death bounced out the door, shutting it quietly behind him.


	8. The House

_Sorry about not posting for awhile. I was getting over the last of my cold, studying for school, and working on my paintings. (I have a life. ... yeah. It surprises me too.) This is a fairly "long" chapter to make up for it. Please enjoy. _

**Chapter 8: The House (Kids Grand Tour?)**

"Well then, I'll show you around the home." Kid turned briskly and, after setting the glasses of water in the center of two different side tables, walked slowly through the house. Neko followed silently behind him.

"That is the kitchen, next to it- as you can see- is the dining room." Kid motioned to the left. He turned, stopping, and pointed to his right, "this is the living room."

Kid started walking forward again and up the large staircase. Once they both reached the top Kid pointed to his right again , "down there are various rooms, mostly guest rooms but some are suited to hold sleepovers and have video games and computers." Kid looked at Neko, she nodded understandingly. Kid nodded back and turning left, started walking down the hallway.

Ten feet down he paused, his body still facing forward, and pointed to the first door on the left. "This is my room." Kid took two steps forward and pointed to another door, this one on the right. "This is where my father sleeps." Kid looked behind his shoulder at Neko. Neko looked expectantly at him.

"Well," Kid walked eight steps down the hall, _Ah, I'm so happy Father remodeled the house to have the rooms on the same sides eight feet apart each. Such a wonderful number; 8. _Kid smiled, so content in his thoughts that he almost passed the doors, he stopped short.

Checking behind himself he saw that Neko had stopped shortly before him, almost as if she knew that he would stop.

"Um…" Kid looked around and after finding his shortly "lost" bearings pointed to the door on his left. "This is my weapons, Liz and Patty's room." Kid turned and took two steps before turning to his right, "and this is your room." Kid opened the door and held it open for Neko to pass through before walking in himself.

Looking around the room he nodded to himself. "It's not much but I'm sure that with a few things from the basement and a little personalization, it'll feel fine." The room was a whitish grey, trimmed in a deep purple. A queen sized bed with two pillows sat in the direct middle of the room, completely bare. Nothing else covered the room.

"Yes, well then, the closet is that door over on the left, the other door next to it is to the bathroom." Kid nodded again.

"Yeah, it's a very nice house."

Kid's head whipped around, he looked at Neko and then looked behind himself and then around the room again, his eyes going over every corner.

"Who said that?" Kid called out.

"I did." Kid looked in the direction of the voice and only saw Neko.

"Did you _talk_?" Kid asked Neko, mentally expecting her to shrug or shake her head 'no'.

"Yeah." Neko looked at him, obviously bemused by his shock and confusion.

"Oh, okay, well since we're on _speaking terms_ now…" Kid now faced her.

"We never weren't." Neko interrupted, her voice was clear and strong but it had a light rasp to it, like someone who hadn't spoken in a while because of a really sore throat.

"What?" Kid looked at her.

"We've always been on speaking terms but I don't like to speak loudly, it hurts my throat. I don't want to need to yell in the cafeteria or anywhere else, I won't talk in class either because I would need to raise my voice for Stine to hear or, if it was a lecture period and I was speaking out of turn, I don't want something thrown at my head!" Neko explained, it was obvious that someone had told her about the knife that was thrown at their classmate… then again, she could have seen something, Kid couldn't remember if the eating utensil had been pulled out of the wall before or after she had gotten there.

"Okay," Kid couldn't help but know that that was a completely rational explanation for her actions. "So what do you want for dinner?"

Neko's brow furrowed in thought, she gazed distantly into space.

Kid thought also; _what do we have to eat?_ A slight wave of panic washed through him as he realized that he had forgotten what was in the kitchen. _A failure! Pathetic! Weak! How could I forget what ingredients for food we have downstairs? I had it memorized, everything in the cupboards, cabinets, refrigerator! How could I let myself forget? I don't deserve to live! How will I be able to cook a decent meal to welcome Neko to the house if I can't even remember what we have? Pathetic, I should just—_Kid stopped, he didn't want to realize what just happened; he wanted to open his eyes and find himself still standing in the doorway across from Neko, still calm and serious. Of course he knew that that was wishful thinking.

Kid opened his eyes to find himself on his knees on the floor, his arm still extended from his common habit of hitting the ground, warm tears slowly cooled on his face and dripped onto the, now wet and spotted, carpet.

Kid looked up, miserable and embarrassed, at Neko, who now sat off to the side of him, because he took up the whole doorway, expecting to see her looking like everyone else who had ever seen him while disheveled; either trying desperately to contain laughter, gazing sadly in waves of pity, or staring, frightened and confused, at him. Neko was none of those people.

She sat calmly and thoughtfully, watching him with her usual, friendly gaze.

"Sorry." Kid tried to speak formally, but his voice only came out a whisper.

"No need to be, it's fine." Neko spoke as if she had not even seen his mental breakdown.

Kid was flabbergasted. Every other time he had acted this way (except for in front of his dear chichiue) he got a response of annoyance or anger, sometime more pity- if they really wanted to make him feel small. Neko spoke like his father would have… not including than the ruffle of the hair and some lame joke to go with it… thank goodness.

"No, I shouldn't have acted like that. I'm sorry." Kid apologized again, his voice now back to normal except for the slight roughness of someone who just finished crying.

"You don't need to be sorry. Its fine, I didn't mind." Neko smiled as she stood up.

"No I-" Kid was cut off in his third apology attempt.

"Stop." Neko held up her hand to stop him. "You're fine, it's not a problem. You didn't hurt anyone did you?"

"No." Kid answered.

"And the only person you could have inconvenienced back there was me right?" Neko questioned.

"Yes." Kid felt a pang of guilt at the idea that he had done just so.

"I don't _feel_ inconvenienced. I'm still happy, still okay." Neko smiled as Kid pulled himself to his feet and looked at her. "I'm okay with you venting your thoughts. It's a good thing, you just need to practice on restraint so that you don't worry anybody. Calm down a bit, relax, you'll be fine. If you want help than I can make a list for you to hang on the fridge… _two_ _lists_, so that you know everything in the kitchen. That way we can also scratch out things we've used up and write down extra things that we've bought." Neko smiled.

"Sounds good." Kid nodded, his shoulders still annually quaking from his breakdown.

"As for dinner;" Neko looked at him with a slight smirk.

"Let's not cook tonight, is there a pizza place anywhere near here?" Neko shrugged as she threw the idea out for suggestion.

"Yeah, Mr. Polli's Pizzeria, it's down the street about half a mile." Kid nodded and instinctively tossed his thumb up to point the direction.

"Okay, sounds good." Neko walked out of the room behind Kid and silently followed him down the hall. The conversation picked up as they walked down the staircase.

"I have a bit of money, so we can probably get a large pizza." Neko pulled a twenty dollar bill out of her pocket.

"What?" Kid stopped in the middle of the staircase, Neko stepped down one more step to stand on the same level as him.

"I said that I have money so we can…" Neko started.

"Yeah, I got that. You're the guest though, so I'm going to pay." Kid stepped up one stair to be at a higher level than her before pulling his own twenty dollars from his pants pocket.

"No," Neko stepped up one stair to be on the same level as him again. "We'll both split the price this time." Neko quickly snatched the twenty from Kid's hand, paired it with her own, showed it to him, and shoved it into her pocket.

"That wouldn't be gentlemanly of me though." Kid argued as he walked down the steps after her.

"It's not really a matter of gentlemanliness right now, it's more for survival. I don't know how your food is." Neko explained in a half joking tone.

"I don't want to brag too much, but I can cook very well actually." Kid's voice took on a matter-of-factly tone.

"Good for you," Neko's own voice took on a similar tone. "But it's the asymmetricalness that I'm worried about. I don't want to have a certain number of something on my plate or have two piles of the _same food_ on opposite sides of the plate." Neko smiled at the thought of Death the Kid trying to eat her food in a symmetrical manner.

"There's nothing wrong with symmetry!" Kid pouted, obviously upset.

"I never said that there was anything wrong with it, I actually enjoy symmetry- it's a beautiful thing." Kid looked up at Neko as she said this. He had never heard anyone else say anything like that before.

"I'm just not ready to try to eat food in that manner." Neko shrugged and pulled open the door. Kid grabbed it and held it open for Neko; Neko smiled and nodded her thanks before stepping outside. Kid nodded back before turning around and shutting the door behind him.

_So, other then the mental breakdown (which I tried to make from Kid's perspective, don't think I did that too greatly. :/ ) it was a slightly boring chapter. I tried to let you see more of Neko's personality. Don't freat though my dear readers! More action will soon take place! (It has to!) _

_Just to let you know (In case you didn't) the first 10... 11? Maybe 12? No, 11... probibly. ... ! Are all in the same day (Don't know if you realized that.) Sorry if you did- didn't mean anything about it. Days may be one or two chapters... phfft! Who am I kidding? They'll be roughly one- five chapters regularly. This day is "long" because it's the first one! (Also; This DOES FOLLOW THE ANIME... sorta. I figured that between each episode had to be a few days, so I grabbed the idea and am running with it. If you also understand (just saying) you will have a much easier time understanding. I will follow the anime, it'll just have extra stuff in it to add to the "missing" days. :) ) 3 _

**TBC**


	9. Mr Polli's Pizzeria

_Hi, Hi, what's up? Hows life? Haven't updated in a little bit. My excuse: School concert. I had to play two instruments (clarinet and xylophone) :P_

_Hope you like the chapter. Also (just in case you haven't realized this) I don't own Soul Eater. If I DID it would have been prepared to have a bigger budget so that it could have followed the Manga more closely! AND... (clears throat) Sorry, that was my rant of the day. Please enjoy._

**Chapter 9: Mr. Polli's Pizzeria**

Kid and Neko walked into the pizza shop, a small bell tingled overhead.

A short, stout old man with thin curly white hair appeared out of a door behind the counter.

"Hello, what may I do for you?" The man spoke in a calm and kind voice, the faintest Italian accent hung in it.

"Hi, Mr. Polli." Kid nodded toward him.

"Ah! Death the Kid; long time, no see, how have things been?" Mr. Polli opened a small door on the side of the counter and walked out into the happily lit room to greet him. He quickly approached them and took _both_ of Kid's hands, shaking them eagerly.

"I saw you last week, none-the-less, things have been going well, thank you." Kid smiled politely and waited for the old man to stop shaking his hands.

"And how's your OCD problems? Are they resolving at all?" Mr. Polli let Kid's hand go and smiled excitedly.

"No, they haven't, but it's not a _problem_ per say- an annoyance at times, but not a problem." Kid smiled and explained, the slightest bit of offence could barely be detected in his voice.

"Yes, yes, you keep telling yourself that and maybe it'll help." Mr. Polli laughed and turned to Neko, ignoring the angry frown that he was now getting from Kid.

"And who might you be?" Mr. Polli took Neko's hand and gently kissed it.

"My name is Neko." The girl smiled politely.

"Neko, what a beautiful name." Mr. Polli shook Neko's hand and turned to Kid, "she is a catch, hold on to this one."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Kid's voice broke on the last word; he looked down and felt himself blushing.

"Oh, too bad, she's one that you'd want, I mean," Mr. Polli walked around to the side of her, "I can already tell that she's got a kind, understanding heart, that she's a strong and forgiving person, and she's not too bad on her looks either. Look at her eyes, she's very beautiful." Mr. Polli smiled at her and looked over at Kid again.

Kid blushed even harder.

"Do you not agree?" The old man tilted his head a bit and cocked a smile.

"I- I…" Kid looked to the side and scratched his head. "I agree." He whispered.

"What?" The old man leaned forward and put his hand next to his ear.

"I agree." Kid repeated a little louder, he could feel himself blushing even harder.

"Ah, there, you see; I was right." Mr. Polli nodded to himself before going to stand in front of the pair again.

"So, what can I do for you?" The old man smiled and clasped his hands as he took a step back.

"We wanted to get some pizza. Could we have what I normally order?" Kid smiled.

Mr. Polli's face seemed to faultier slightly before he reasserted his friendly smile and nodded. He quickly walked away into the back room without saying a word, the swinging door separating the dining room from the kitchen swung emptily.

"Okay than." Neko looked at Kid before turning and sitting down at the closest booth, Kid followed her lead.

"Is that normal?" Neko leaned across the table and asked Kid in a hushed voice.

Kid's face filled with concern. "No, he usually talks for a bit longer before going to the kitchen to cook."

"He didn't look right." Neko recalled.

"How would you know? You just met him." Kid leaned back and relaxed more into his side of the booth.

"I didn't need to have known him for a long time to know that something was up. His eyes, did you notice them?" Neko glanced toward the kitchen, checking to make sure he wasn't coming.

"No." Kid leaned forward again.

"They were black, not like a color exactly, but that blackness you find when you look at a dead person." Neko's face was flushed with worry.

"That's absurd! I spoke to Mr. Polli a week ago, he was perfectly fine." Kid shrugged but Neko saw him look at the kitchen door.

"Not only that, you felt his hands didn't you?" Kid knew it wasn't a question but he didn't want to face the answer either.

"They were cold, not literally though. They didn't have the warmth and physical feeling you get from a normal person's hand, his hand's felt… artificial almost, as if they were made from clay but heated to make them feel more real." Neko shivered, fear tickled down her spine.

Kid's eye brows knit together in worry as he looked at the kitchen door again. "Did you see his soul?" Kid kept his eyes on the door but whispered to Neko.

"It didn't look right if that's what you're asking." Neko said, she made no move to go into further explanation, which was fine; Kid didn't need it- he already had his confirmation.

"We should get going. Once we get back to the house I'll contact father and warn him of the situation." Kid slid out of the booth and waited for Neko to do the same thing.

They quietly made their way to the door and paused, watching for any movement in the back room. Kid pulled the handle, the bell rang.

Both of them drew in a breath at the same time, there was no sign or sound of movement from the kitchen.

"Let's go." Kid moved to the side to let Neko hurry out the door before letting the door go and following her into the street.

"Once we get home I'll contact father and let him know what's happening." Kid walked briskly beside Neko.

Behind them, a bell rung.

Kid pretended not to hear it but walked faster, Neko also quickened her pace.

"Where are you going?" A voice whispered, by the sound of it they were no less than a yard away.

"Mr. Polli?" Kid asked, he stopped walking but did not turning around to confirm his suspicions. _It wouldn't be possible to run up behind us without either hearing. It isn't possible to walk that distance that quickly though._

Neko turned around and smiled at the old man who now wore a long, brown trench coat over his red sweater. "Hi, sorry we left like that but I forgot something at home." Neko lied flawlessly. "I didn't want stay alone at your restaurant but I didn't think I could find my way home either."

Mr. Polli smiled and nodded nicely, though when he looked at Neko she knew that he could tell that they were on to whatever game he was playing.

"Well then, perhaps I could walk you home. It's getting dark and I don't want anything to happen to two nice young children like you." Mr. Polli laughed as he stepped between them and took each by their arm.

"We really don't need help and…" Kid tried to shake the old man's grip off but it was too strong.

"Nonsense! Somewhere like Death City, danger is practically around every corner." Polli chuckled, and only if you listened hard enough could you hear the sinister tone of his laugh.

The three of them rounded the corner, Gallows Manor came into view; looming symmetrically at the end of the street. They walked silently, Mr. Polli let go of Kid and nudged him ahead to open the gate for them.

"Thank you." Mr. Polli smiled and nodded at Kid as Kid stepped aside to let Mr. Polli and Neko pass. Kid quietly closed the gate behind him.

"Well, thanks Mr. Polli." Neko smiled politely as she stood on the porch. "We'll see you again sometime."

"I thought you said that you just forgot something." Mr. Polli chuckled.

Neko's smile faltered, "yes, but after taking into consideration what you said, about it getting dark and all, I've decided that we should stay home." Neko nodded and looked over at Kid; Kid looked back at her and nodded back.

It was Mr. Polli's turn to have his smile falter. "Oh, I see. Well if it'll be that way, may I come in?"

Neko glanced at the door, "I love to let you but we're a bit busy, with me getting my room organized and everything, and I wouldn't want you to miss any customers."

"I won't miss anyone." The certainty in his voice worried both of the children.

"Sorry, not tonight." Neko turned quickly and opened the door, Kid turned to grab the door from her, and Neko shook her head.

As Kid passed her to go inside Neko grabbed his arm and pulled him so close to her ear that he felt her lips against his hair.

"Get to a mirror and tell your dad that we need help." Neko breathed.

Kid was about to question her, but decided against it and just nodded. Neko let go of him and let him continue inside.

"Thanks again, and good night." Neko walked inside and turned to shut the door.

"No, no, no." Mr. Polli jammed his foot in the door at the last second. "You're here alone, I can't allow that. What if something were to happen?" His accent and warmer tone disappeared allowing a darker, colder voice to replace it. He pushed lightly on the door.

"We're… fine!" Neko reassured Polli while straining to close the door, the foot had left but now the old man pushed against her on the other side of the door.

As Neko pushed she leaned her head to the door, through both the crack and the door she could hear fabric tearing and ripping.

Kid ran through the house; he pulled himself up the staircase; covering three or more stairs at a time. He skidded down the hall and made a hard right- throwing himself into his dad's room. He crossed the room in four huge leaps and started puffing on the glass, not even bothering to just summon him. Quickly and quietly he wrote with his finger; 42-42-564, his mouth moving silently with each number.

The floor to ceiling mirror rippled like water for a second before clearing up to show a spiky black cloaked figure in a comical white mask, blue skies and puffy clouds made up the background.

"Hiya Kiddo!" Lord Death bounced while speaking in his high pitched voice. "How're things going with Neko and you? I haven't been gone more than an hour and already you're calling me and-"

"Father, we have a situation here. I need you to come back home, _now_." Kid tried to sound calm while interrupting his father, but knew that his voice contained a large amount of urgency.

"What's wrong?" Lord Death stopped bouncing, he studied his son for a second; beads of sweat were gathering on Kid's face, his breathing was off, even his pupils were dilated.

"Kiddo, stay calm, don't be scared." Death tried to reassure his son.

Kid nodded and took a deep breath.

The sudden sound of wood and glass shattering caused them both to jump and turn their heads.

"Kid!" Neko's voice screamed hoarsely through the house, the sound of the fear in her call shook Kid to the core as he ran out the door, leaving his father to stand uselessly in the mirror.

_So, LONG chapter coming up next! :D PLEASE read and REVIEW, I need to know what I can improve on. _

_**ALSO: **(and this is the part where _you_ come in, my dear friends.) **I need a few ideas for things that happen BETWEEN chapters. :/ I have A LOT of the plot already finished and a lot planned out but I need ideas for in between episodes. For instence: Behind the scenes (things that mat have happened in the episodes- but were excluded due to time restrants) Weekend activitys (What does the famous group of DWMA do on the weekends?) ECT. If you submit a GOOD IDEA (**not saying that some of you may not have GOOD IDEAS) **I will tweak them to my story and give YOU credet for the "plot of the chapter". ** _

_PS: If I do choose to use your idea I will e-mail you back and say that I am (may not tell you when.) For Anonymous readers I will simply address you in the chapter following closest to your submitting if you don't give a reply address. _

_Till next time: TA TA FOR NOW! _

_**TBC...**  
><em>


	10. Skift

**Chapter 10: Skift (Battling the shape-shifter?)**

Polli was no longer there, in replacement of him stood a seven foot tall, black werewolf.

"Whoa!" Neko hand sprung across the floor, just in time to barely avoid a crushing paw, equipped with three inch long, sharpened, claws. The broken wood and glass from the shattered mirror ground deeper into Neko's skin as she moved, shifting and grinding against itself.

"Come back here!" The creature roared, it turned to face her and charged mercilessly.

"Neko!" Kid started to run down the grand staircase; paying more attention to her than his feet, two steps down his feet got tangled, he could barely cry out before he was flipping painfully head over heels down the rest of the stairs.

"I'm okay!" Kid stood up quickly and swayed, still trying to realign his vision. He stared at the floor in a daze, his shadow in three different places.

"Kid, move." Neko said calmly, just as Kid was regaining his sight.

"What?" Kid stayed where he was, his head now throbbing so hard that he could barely hear anything.

"Move." Neko commanded a bit louder, her voice broke through his pain barrier.

"Why?" Kid looked down at the glass strewn floor; his shadow had been replaced with a much bigger figure.

A glob of thick drool dripped lazily onto Kid's black jacket. Kid looked at it, trying to push the unsymmetrical thoughts out of his mind, before he looked up. A large wolf-like creature lumbered over him.

"Hello." It growled before it slammed its hand into Kid, sending him flying across the room.

"Kid…" Neko sighed, staring at the child dressed in black who now lay, eagle spread on his back, even more dazed on the floor.

"You're an idiot." She informed him calmly before turning back to the werewolf.

"Now, where were we?" Neko charged the beast and jumped up, narrowly avoiding a giant swinging paw; she spun around in midair and slammed the top of her foot into the side of Skift's face in a full force roundhouse.

"You little brat!" The wolf brought his hand down on her right as she landed, giving her no open time to attack or defend.

Neko flinched as the shining black claws tore through the back of her shirt, she could feel stitches being broken and couldn't help but think of how many _more_ stitches she would need after this stupid fight.

"Neko?" Kid tried to sit up on the floor, the room spun and leaned to the left, and Kid fell over. Kid tried again to sit up, the room spun and leaned to the right, again Kid fell over. Once more Kid tried to sit up, the room stopped spinning and gave way to the image of a large creature in the living room.

"Kid, where are you?" A comical voice came from the top of the staircase in a sing song tone, Lord Death stood there calmly with Death Scythe, searching for his son. He finally saw him lying on the ground. "You really shouldn't lay on the ground like that Kiddo, you could get messy or something!" He pointed to the child dressed in black as he said this.

"Dad!" Kid stood up, the room spun harshly; he stumbled and fell over, collapsing across the carpet again. Kid stood up again, more slowly, and hurried to make himself more presentable. He was focused on brushing the last of the rubble off of the jacket when the werewolf slipped past Neko and tackled him.

"Oof!" Kid was driven roughly through the wall and crashed into the closet on the other side, hitting his head hard against the wood, driving a large dent into the plaster.

The shape shifter raised his paw; it warped to form a long blade which disappeared into his fur covered elbow.

"Now, now, we need to play nice don't we? And tackling and throwing children through walls is certainly _not_ nice." Two giant white hands maneuvered into the hole and grabbed the beast from off of Kid, dragging it roughly back out of the wall. "Kid, get out of the wall; it's quite dirty in there." Lord Death called past the werewolf at the child who now stumbled, even more dazed, across the room he had been smashed into and out of the white wall, tripping on the last board near the living room.

The wolf growled, glaring fiercely at Shinigami-sama as he was pulled closer to him.

"Well, than, let's get acquainted, I'm Lord Death. Who are you?" He spoke in his comical voice while he held the wolf tightly, squeezing harder every time it struggled.

"You of all people should remember that I am Skift, the shape shifter." The wolf replied smugly before dissolving into sand.

The sand fell loosely out of Death's hand, gathering on the floor in a dirty heap. Slowly it grew and transformed until it was back to the form of Mr. Polli.

"Ah, Skift, long time no see! What's up; how's life?" Lord Death's voice returned to its usual bounciness despite the situation and the slight uneasiness he was feeling. _This will be a challenge. Skift, a talented shape-shifter, has eluded me many times. But now he can no longer hide behind Azusa and use the distractions to fight- he won't win._

"It's been much better since that wonderful witch Medusa set me free from the cell _you_ locked me in." Skift smiled and transformed, colors and wind combining together as he changed forms, into a werewolf again.

"Ah, yes, I think I remember that. You were that blasted annoyance that bothered me while I tried to fight Azura." Lord Death threw a punch, his hand expanding just enough to make sure that Skift couldn't avoid it.

"Yes, and I will help him once more!" Skift laughed insanely as he was carried by Death's fist. He crashed loudly into a couch, splitting it in half.

"I doubt that. I don't know really who informed you but Azusa's been locked away for quite some time." Lord Death called out over the sound of his furniture braking

"Liz, Patty, come here!" Kid yelled instinctively as he picked himself up from the ground again, he groaned in frustration when he remembered that they were out with Tsubaki for the night.

"Kid, get out of the way." Neko ordered through gritted teeth. Her clothes were ripped and there was barely a recognizable pattern to her shirt under the blood.

Kid nodded obediently and without argument and ran across the room to the edge of the stairs, glancing from her to his father. He saw that his dad was watching Neko now with intense interest, so Kid diligently copied him, feeling more like a little child in the action.

A wind started up, first a gentle breeze but it quickly picked up, faster and faster, until papers and loose cloth were thrown around the room wildly. At the same time a dark purple orb started to expand around Neko, growing larger until it fully engulfed her. She was lifted slowly off of the ground; black skulls with shadows trailing them swirled randomly around the orb, now a bright magenta.

Kid stared at it, entranced. He couldn't help but see the long, jagged, black crack that ran vertically across the ball. It worried him slightly; he had never seen anything like it before.

Lord Death also watched with curiosity as Neko self resonated her soul. _That's interesting. Not only is she able to use the same technique as Stein and resonate her soul without a weapon but her soul is damaged… I'll need to talk to Franken about possibly getting that repaired. _Lord Death cocked his head to the side as he continued to watch.

Neko dropped back down to the ground, the wind slowed to a stop and the orb disappeared.

"Whatcha gonna do, little girl?" The werewolf picked himself out of the couch and stood to his full height in front of her.

Neko smiled insanely before a long, loud *_crack_* filled the air for a second.

Both Lord Death and Death the Kid looked at her to see a long, flickering whip made from her electricity. She held it tightly in her hand.

"You couldn't hurt someone if you _needed_ to!" The wolf threw out wild comments and laughed cruelly.

Neko dropped her smile; it drew into a long angry frown. She growled forcefully as she took a step forward and flashed the whip over her head; it hit the wolf across the face; leaving a long, deep, and burning, gash.

"Do that again and I'll-" Skift began to threaten but couldn't talk fast enough, the whip lashed out again, cutting painfully across his abdomen in another loud *_crack_*, another ear-splitting sound came at almost the same time, a deep laceration appeared across his chest, all leaving red and black marks to attach to the smell of burning flesh. Neko stood three feet closer to him.

"Shut up, no one wants to hear your useless threats!" Neko growled as she sent the whip lashing across the bottom of the wolf's knees, another step forward.

Skift collapsed to the ground as his knees gave out, he grimaced as he looked up at her.

"Useless?" Skift repeated angrily, not believing what he heard. "Maybe you need a lesson in manners! Your parents certainly didn't teach you anything." Skift insulted her as he felt the whip come down across the top of his head and nick across his arm.

"Don't you _ever_ say anything about _my_ parents." Neko stopped walking forward, now ten feet away from him. "Or you won't say anything ever again." She spoke the last part loud enough so that only the man in front of her could hear.

"Why? Can't I speak the truth? Your parents were idiots; I can tell that by the way you act. Your parents were stupid enough that they couldn't even function to fight against _two_ people!" He laughed at his words.

Lord Death tensed with anger. _Skift, you're a dead man. No matter what tonight- I _will_ destroy you. Nobody insults my friend and his wife and live to tell about it. _He was about to tell Spirit to transform when suddenly he heard Neko screaming. He moved to charge down the staircase to help her fight when he saw that she had already finished the job. _

"Shut _up_!" Neko ignored the pain in her throat as she screamed, blowing the wolf across the room in a massive amount of electricity.

As the pain and smoke cleared she could see the dead body slumped up against the opposite wall. The man now collapsed there looked strong, a taller man, and had light stubble from not shaving in a while. His jaw hung on by a few muscles on the right side of his face, the other side completely torn away, his neck now featured a dark, red spouting crater. The entire area around it was charred black.

Neko felt herself drop to her knees; she didn't care who was in the room anymore; she sobbed openly into her hands, now also burned from the amount of electricity she had used- the salt in her tears stung but made no difference.

"Neko, don't cry- it's over!" Lord Death had made his way down the stairs and across the room instantly and now knelt next to her and gently rubbed her back, making a quiet shushing noise to go along with it. He had a wave of memories involving the same actions as he reassured five-year-old Kid that his hair was fine as it was; unsymmetrical.

Neko shook her head and leaned into him, burying her head in his cloak.

"Was it what he said?" Lord Death tried to figure out what was wrong while keeping up his rhythmic patting and rubbing.

Neko nodded and cried harder.

Kid walked up to them, his head now a pounding headache.

"He was completely wrong. He couldn't have been _more_ wrong Neko. Your parents were amazing people who I completely respected." He tried to reassure her.

Kid tried to focus on hearing his father's words but couldn't hear over the blood rushing past his ears to his brain.

Neko nodded again, sniffling a little- she stopped crying but her shoulders still shook.

"Come on, we can use my mirror. We need to get you both to the medical ward." Lord Death helped Neko stand up. She wobbled a little before starting to fall over. Lord Death caught her and kept his hand around her shoulder as they walked up the stairs.

Kid tried to walk normally but felt an annoyingly painful sharpness in his ankle, when Spirit saw him limping he quietly ducked under Kid's arm and stood up strait- Kid's arm hung around the red haired man's neck, helping keep his weight off of his foot. Kid quietly allowed this, to tire to argue.

Slowly the foursome made their way through the mirror and into the school.

_**TBC... maybe.**_

_also for anyone wondering; Skift is Danish for shift. Making a reference to the fact that he is a shape-shifter._


	11. Stitches and Cooking

_"Ello! Come, come; one and all; for a new chapter! _

_SPECAL SHOUT OUT! : Thank you gaurdian archangel for the awesome review! (Now to answer some of your questions) How did I come up with this story, you ask! Well, I answer, it came from the depths of my brain! I just sorta came up with it so; POOF! so it was come up with; so it shall be written! How long will it be... hmmm... well, my dear friend, even I don't know THAT answer! (*shocked gasps from the crowd*) Also; as long as ALL credet for the story is given to ME; you have complete permission to print it off to share with friends! Share my story with the world! ...that'll be all... (*thrusts fist in air* "On to the story!")_

**Chapter 11: Checkup's and Late Night Snacks (Lord Death tries to _cook_!)**

"Well Neko, it seems that you've gotten a lot of your previous stitches torn apart. Luckily those needed to be taken out anyways. Sadly that also means that the scratches you received from your fight tonight are deep enough that you'll need more stitches for those." The nurse sighed and smiled, walking around from Neko's back to grab a needle and some stitching thread.

Stein lay on the bed next to her, and having nothing better to do due to his concussion and broken ankle, stared at her with both boredom and concern.

The steady sound of glass and metal clicking together came from across the room.

"Kid, you really need to sit down. You have a serious concussion, and you broke your ankle." The nurse sighed, looking across the room to her now (almost) symmetrical shelves.

"A concussion is nothing, besides; I'm a reaper, I'll be better in an hour. It wouldn't stop me anyways, these shelves _must_ be organized properly!" Kid went back to placing and pushing jars and bottles around, quickly becoming completely focused on his mission again.

Nurse Medusa sighed again before turning back to Neko, who was dangerously pale.

"Okay, this'll only hurt a bit." The nurse stood looking down at Neko's back again, thread woven through needle and ready to go.

Neko mentally rolled her eyes and then nodded to let the nurse know that she was ready.

"So, what do ya kids wanna do tonight?" Lord Death bounced while he looked at Neko, who looked at him, frowning, while the needle moved quickly over her back. Death broke their gaze and looked over to the shelves at his son. _Does he really need to do _that_ at a time like this? _Lord Death kept his thoughts to himself. "How 'bout you, Kiddo; anything you wanna do?"

Kid didn't answer him; he was now in his own little world of symmetry and continued to work diligently on making the shelves such.

"There, all done!" Nurse Medusa smiled as she cut the thread and walked around the bed to smile at Neko.

Neko nodded and hopped off the bed, she swayed to the side for a second (Lord Death moved to catch her if she fell) before up righting herself and looking at the boy across the room who was now looking for a second jar of some gooey black stuff.

"Kid, put that down." She ordered, crossing the room quickly and taking it away from him.

"What!" Kid whined. "I _need_ to make the shelves symmetrical!"

"No, you don't." Neko argued simply. So much confidence and assurance was in her voice that Kid stuttered for a moment before opening his mouth to argue back.

Neko interrupted him. "Besides, remember that the house was practically destroyed during our fight?" She studied Kid for a second to see if he had caught on, when she saw that he hadn't she turned around and sighed heavily. "Oh well, I guess you can stay here and organize a _shelf_ while the entire symmetry of the _house _is probably destroyed. Your dad and I will just have to go and get it as symmetrical as possible. Just remember to come home when you're done, okay?" Neko started to walk out of the door, Lord Death, barely having a clue to what Neko was doing, started to follow her into the hallway.

"Wait!" Kid immediately jumped up from his spot and ran after them. "The- the symmetry! Oh gosh! No!" He blubbered franticly as he ran as fast as he could toward the house.

"What did you do?" Spirit looked down at Neko, who walked slowly along the hallway, Lord Death behind her.

"I simply reminded him that the house is now asymmetrical. Due to his OCD he freaked out and went directly home to start trying to fix the problem." Neko smirked and looked back at the tall red head.

Spirit nodded and slowly dropped back to walk next to his miester, in a very hushed tone he leaned over. "So did you talk with Stein or the nurse about that thing you were wondering about?" He talked to Lord Death but kept his eyes on Neko.

"Oh!" Lord Death stopped and stood up straight. "No, thanks a bunch for reminding me Spirit!" He turned around and "floated" back to the office.

Neko paused to watch Death turn around but quickly refocused on walking home.

* * *

><p>Lord Death walked back into the room where the nurse was quietly sanitizing needles and putting away extra bandages. Stein was still on his side, he had been watching the nurse work but let his eyes shift and follow Death as he walked into the room.<p>

"Medusa, Franken, I wanted to talk to you about something." Lord Death looked at them.

"Would it have to do with dissection?" Stein got an insane glare in his eyes.

"No." Lord Death scolded him.

"What would it be about, Lord Death?" Nurse Medusa looked at him, putting the last of her stuff in a drawer.

"I wanted to know what it would take to adopt Neko." Lord Death bounced in place a little bit.

"What?" Stein sat up and looked at the cloaked figure.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Death looked at him and cocked his head at an impossible angle.

"I wouldn't really know." The nurse sighed. "Sorry, I'm nurse, not a lawyer."

Stein just nodded his head in agreement.

"Oh." Lord Death sighed and started to walk out of the room without another word.

"I would drop the idea." Stein said unemotionally.

"Maybe I'll just take time to think about it." Lord Death nodded to himself as he quickly exited the room, not wanting to hear anymore of Franken Stein's talking.

* * *

><p>Neko walked the rest of the way home alone; Spirit had left her once he was sure that she knew where to go. Slowly she opened the door and looked in.<p>

Kid was on his hands and knees, sobbing and cursing himself.

"Hopeless swine! I don't deserve to live! Everyone would be better off without me!" He pounded the ground with his white knuckled fist.

"Now come on! Stop saying stuff like that." Neko surprised him, causing him to jump. Kid glanced behind himself and turned back to cry silently about his patheticness.

"Kid, all we need to do is wait until your dad gets home, and then we can get him to fix the walls and what not." Neko wrapped her arms around his middle and quietly picked him up, setting him on his feet.

When Kid didn't argue Neko nodded her head and walked into the kitchen.

"Hello! How's it hangin'?" Lord Death came through the doorway and gave a peace sign to the two children standing in the kitchen, who just a moment ago had been trying to decide what to make for a quick, late night, dinner.

"Hello Chichiue." Kid turned around from the stove and bowed.

"Hey!" Shinigami-Sama waved enthusiastically to his son. "Whatcha doing?" He stayed where he was but still tried to look over the children's shoulders.

"We were just starting to make soup." Neko explained, not bothering to look at him. "Could you fix the walls and everything? Is it possible for you to do that?" Neko now turned to look at him.

Lord Death looked around and sighed. The house was in shambles; blood dotted the walls and carpet and massive holes gaped through the plaster in the living room. Much of the furniture had been destroyed and dark scorch marks were smoldering stains into broken couches and ruined walls. Pictures, mirrors, and other decorations lay on the ground in heaps of broken mess.

"I can try." He nodded and bounced into the middle of the room. Kid watched him with anticipation while Neko, wishing she could watch, turned dutifully back to the soup.

A bright light filled the room as Death concentrated on repairing the house. Slowly the walls began to stretch, morph, and bend, missing plaster began to paste itself back together like a large puzzle. At the same time the blood went wet again and came out of the floor, beading in midair. The furniture slowly moved back together, repairing seams and sanding out splinters. The glass from the mirrors and pictures clinked and crackled as it formed solid pieces again before fitting themselves back into their respected frames. Other decorations did the same and soon lay with the other objects strewn over the floor, whole once again.

The light faded and Lord Death sighed, a small, skull shaped, puff of smoke blew out of the bottom of his mask.

The walls were whole, white paint sitting spotless on them. The carpet went back to its original white with red outlining; spotless. The furniture, still spread all over the room, some even still turned upside down, was at least in one piece again.

Lord Death nodded his satisfaction; Kid's eyes sparkled happily as he rushed away from Neko to start cleaning and reorganizing the grand hall once again.

Lord Death walked into the kitchen, basically replacing the spot that Death the kid had left open. "So you're making soup?" He asked simply.

Neko nodded and continued to focus on the meal.

"Go sit down." Death patted her shoulder lightly, not wanting to bother her stitches, and gently tried to push her away from the stove. "You're in no condition to cook." He argued quietly.

Neko resisted for a second, holding her ground she argued back; "I don't think that you know _how_ to cook." She stated.

"Are you joking?" Lord Death took the stirring spoon from her hands and set it on the counter, he placed both of his white gloved hands on her back and ushered the girl into a bright white room, a dark stained wooden table sat in the middle, eight chairs sat on either side of the table, one large chair was set at the very back at the head of the table.

Neko reluctantly sat down in one of the chairs, the double doors were propped open so that she had a clear view of the kitchen; she gazed into it.

"Of course I know how to cook!" Lord Death held up one of his hands, the index finger pointing up. "I'm great at it! I cook gourmet food, I'm a chef!" He explained, secretly trying to also convince himself.

"Well…" Neko kept watching the kitchen. "_Chef_, I don't mean to criticize your work but… _your_ soup is burning."

"What?" Lord Death turned and looked into the kitchen; the pot of soup was boiling over, gray and black smoke floated out of the metal bowl. "Oh my!" He rushed into the kitchen and started fanning the pot with his hand, trying desperately to get the smoke to clear.

"Stop doing that." Neko scolded him and slapped his arm with the back of her hand; she made a shooing motion to get him to move aside. She sighed heavily while she turned off the stove and carefully moved the pot to another burner to let it cool.

"Do you want me to get some bowls?" Lord Death began to move across the kitchen to the cabinets.

"No, the soups gone." Neko frowned deeply and shook her head.

"What do you mean, '_gone_'" Lord Death re-crossed the kitchen and looked in the pot. All that was in the pot was horribly burned pieces of noodles which were crusted black to the bottom of the bowl.

"Oh." He replied quietly, blatantly upset with himself for ruining the dinner.

"It's fine." Neko quickly tried to reassure him but couldn't come up for an explanation of why it was fine.

Death nodded, still upset with himself but willing to take the reassurance. "Is there anything I can do to make up for it?" He sounded as guilty as he felt.

"Nothing comes to knowledge right now, but I'll be sure to tell you when an opportunity comes up." Neko nodded and smiled.

Kid walked in, his nose crinkled up at the smell of burnt food. "Neko… maybe you should let _me_ cook."

Neko laughed; "_I_ didn't burn the food."

Kid looked at his father. "Dad, did you try to cook?" He sighed when he saw his dad nod his head.

"It probably could've gone over better don'tcha think Kiddo?" He shrugged.

"I'm going to bed." Neko slid out from kitchen and made her way to her room, leaving Lord Death alone with Kid.

"I think that's a good idea." Kid nodded thoughtfully to himself.

"You've had a long day." Lord Death ruffled Kid's hair.

Kid patently waited for his father to finish before moving his hand to brush his hair back into place. "Yes. I just finished fixing the room, its back to the way it should be." Kid nodded and looked at the huge entrance hall, now symmetrical. (Though he knew that he'd need to wake up early to dust, vacuum, and clean to get it perfect.)

"Okay then, goodnight Kid." Lord Death couldn't resist ruffling his child's adorable hair one more time before the kid fled, calmly at least, to his room.

_Now to go sort things out about this Demon Sword. _Lord Death thought as he quietly put the pot in the sink and went up to his room. He sighed as he stepped through the mirror and into the brightly colored blue room full of fluffy white clouds, where everything bad was but didn't seem. "Sweet dreams you two." He whispered to himself.

**TBC...~!**_  
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	12. Breakfast Imaginary petseating?

**Chapter 12: Breakfast (Imaginary pets=eating?)**

_"No, stop! How could you do that? Stop! Dad, you need to get them… Father? Father, where are you?"_ Neko kicked the blanket off of her body, she sat up straight, panting hard, tears and sweat mixed together to mat down her hair.

The blanket thumped against the far wall before landing in a heap on the floor. Neko jumped, fear and adrenaline still working through her body, she sent a bolt of electricity toward the unknown object.

The blanket turned black, a small wisp of smoke floated into the air before disappearing into the air.

Neko stared at it wide eyed for a second before sighed with relief and annoyance and letting herself fall backwards onto her bed.

She sat up again at the sound of something downstairs, she smelled the air; it smelled faintly of eggs and bacon.

The girl smiled to herself as she got up and put her clothes on for the day. She made her way silently down the hall, stopping at the stairwell she saw that the house looked completely normal; as if nothing had happened two nights before. Neko sighed again to get the weight that had just started to burden her chest to go away.

Neko made her way into the kitchen and shook her head in disbelief of what she saw; Kid stood at the stove, expertly flipping pancakes with one hand and French toast in the other. Mounds of eggs and pyramids of bacon lined the counter, peppers, cheese, tomatoes, and other toppings sat, cubed, next to them.

"Good morning." Kid smiled at her.

Neko looked at him, a disbelieving and confused smile spread across her face.

"I didn't know what you liked and I didn't want to wake you; so I made everything." He explained.

Neko just nodded. "Well, there's one thing from this that leaves me seriously wondering about stuff." She looked at all the food again before looking back at Kid. "From _whom_ did you learn to cook? Because it certainly wasn't your dad."

Kid laughed and shrugged. "I know my dad can't cook very well."

"Very well?" Neko laughed along with him. "Your dad _literally_ _burned water_ the other night!"

"Okay then… he can't cook _at all_." Kid smiled as he turned the stove off and set up the two foods in tall stacks in the pan. "Think fast!" He flipped both pans over, sending the pancakes and French toast flying high into the air.

Neko did exactly what he said; she grabbed two plates from the cabinet and ran back to the middle of the room, where she held out both plates; the breakfast landed neatly on them; still in stacks.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot; now we have _two_ people with super speed… along with other powers." Liz half smiled as she stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips, her sister stood next to her, still stretching and yawning.

"Good morning; Liz, Patty." Kid nodded toward each of them.

"We have a big breakfast for you today!" Neko smiled as she grabbed two plates piled with eggs, bacon, and pancakes, and walked into the dining room.

Liz and Patty quietly followed her to the room and sat down next to each other. Patty stared at the four plates for longer then what a normal person would, she lifted her head up and asked in a childlike voice; "What about a plate for my pet giraffe?"

"Your pet giraffe?" Neko looked at her with a small side smile. "Where is this pet of yours?" She leaned across the table and asked.

"Its right _there_,silly." Patty pointed to the empty spot beside her.

Kid's voice could be heard calling from the other room; "I've already told you, Patty; that giraffe is a figment of your imagination, it's _not_ real!"

Patty frowned, obviously hurt by his remark. "I'm gonna eat if my pet giraffe can't!" She crossed her arms and turned away from her food.

Liz just sighed and began to eat her pancakes.

Neko moved in quickly to cheer her up again. "Don't worry; I'll get you some food for your darling pet!" She smiled. Liz stopped eating and watched with confusion and slight admiration as Neko left the room.

"What are you doing?" Kid muttered, confused by what Neko was doing.

"I'm getting some food for Patty's giraffe." She answered simply. She went about the counter, pretending to scoop up food.

Kid continued to watch her as she went about her solemn mission.

"What are you…?" Kid didn't finish his sentence before Neko put her finger over her mouth, indicating for him to be quiet; she winked at him before walking into the dining room with an empty plate.

"Here ya go Patty!" Neko set the plate down where Patty's "pet" was sitting.

Patty looked at it innocently. "There's nothing on it." She stated simply.

"What? Of course there is! It's _invisible _food for your invisible giraffe." Neko smiled and nodded.

"Oh!" Patty stared into space while moving her head up and down in an understanding manner. "Ha-ha! Eat it giraffe! Eat your food!" She laughed happily before stuffing a spoonful of her eggs into her mouth.

"Huh, never tried _that_ before." Neko heard Liz mutter to herself while she left the room.

"You got Patty to eat." Kid stated, amazed at the idea. Patty had been going on about this pet animal thing for a few days now; always refusing to eat if her (_fill in blank)_ animal couldn't eat also. Kid refused to buy into it, Liz was the same, but both of them had begun to worry; Patty hadn't eaten anything… except Neko's lunch, in all those days.

"Yeah, I used to have a little sister, she was the same way; always coming up with imaginary friends. We finally decided that no matter how silly, it was best to play along because if you did; you could get her to do a lot more than you could if you didn't." Neko gave one short nod downwards and smiled proudly while gathering food on to her own plate.

Neko turned around to get French toast from the counter when she looked out of the window.

Sunlight streamed in through the clear glass.

"It gets bright really early down here, huh?" Neko gazed out of the kitchen window.

"Yeah, it does." Kid nodded, giving it little attention in the open. In his mind was a different story; _Used to have a little sister? What does she mean _used to_? The sun's always this bright- where's she from that it wouldn't be like this?_

Neko glanced at the clock to see what time it was, instinctively wondering because the sun looked higher than it should be for it being before seven. She saw the time hands, her heart skipped a beat and the first pricks of panic cut across her mind, and a wave of annoyance flooded her body. _I know that Kid is OCD but he wouldn't _really_ miss the first hour of school two days in a row, would he? Especially after I asked him not to do it again._

"Hey, Kid?" Neko kept her voice completely calm and casual, though her eyes never left the hands on the clock.

"Yes?" Kid called over his shoulder, watching himself carefully measure out eight spoonfuls of eggs.

"What time is it?" Neko turned and looked at Kid, all of the worry and panic had been overtaken by her calm personality.

Kid glanced up once he had gotten his fourth piece of bacon. "It's 7: 23." Kid had glanced at an identical clock that hung on the opposite wall from the one that Neko had been looking at.

"Oh, that's what I thought." Neko nodded and grabbed her French toast, happily making her way to the dining room.

Kid came shortly after and sat next to her. "Are you mad?" He leaned away a little bit, fearing what Neko might say.

"No." She sighed as she bit off a piece of her bacon; it crackled and snapped in her mouth, she threw a bite of egg in after it.

"Oh." Kid felt relieved but also guilty for keeping her from getting to school on time for the second day in a row.

"I'll wait for you guys to finish." Neko nodded, mainly talking to herself.

Kid nodded without a sound, more guilt washed over him.

"Kid, I know that eight is your favorite number but if you think about it; seven _o' clock_ is a rounded number also. Seven by itself is awkward but when it's a time… well, I think that it would be doable." Neko spoke to Kid while he pushed his plate away, sick with bad feelings.

"That's what I've been trying to say." Liz added.

Kid nodded again. "You're both right. Tomorrow we'll all start going on time."

"O'tay!" Patty hopped out of her seat and skipped to her room to get ready for school.

Liz nodded in agreement and got up to follow her younger sister to their room.

"I better go get ready myself." Neko stood up and leaned across the table. She picked up the two weapons plates and brought them with her into the kitchen.

Kid followed her into the kitchen, his plate still full due to his sudden loss in appetite.

"I'm sorry." Kid frowned.

"I already forgave you." Neko shrugged as she put the three plates into the sink.

"What?" Kid looked at her.

"I forgave you once I found out you did it." Neko smiled and leaned against the counter.

"Oh." Kid looked down at his food.

"You need to eat." Neko pointed to his plate.

"Fine." Kid sighed as he set the plate down and walked over to the counter opposite of Neko. He grabbed a piece of bacon and bit down on it, letting it crunch in his mouth.

Neko gave him a confused look.

"If I ate from my plate it would throw off its amazing symmetry!" Kid explained.

"Okay." Neko nodded and continued to watch him eat, his shoulders slightly slouched as he leaned casually back against the marble top counter.

"You're different here." Neko pointed out, cocking her head to one side as she did.

"What do you mean?" Kid asked, picking up another piece of bacon before returning to his relaxed position.

"You're not stiff and serious like you are anywhere else- you're more relaxed and happy. Why?" Neko explained and restated her question.

"I guess I'm just comfortable around you." Kid answered without thinking, though as soon as he heard the words come out of his mouth he stopped chewing and, while unwontedly blushing deeply, looked at the girl across from him.

Neko looked at him until he made eye contact; she looked away, feeling herself blushing as well.

"Well… I better go… get ready for school." Neko cleared her throat and left the room, walking quickly up the stairs.

_**TBC**  
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	13. Quotes

_Hi! Wow, well, Chapter 13? ... That means that I've typed 12 chapters before this! ... If you haven't read the other chapters- go read them. Its the smart thing to do. _

_This chapter is Dedicated to: TeganKid! For being an awesome reviewer! Hope you enjoy!_

_Gaurdian Archangel; don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you! _

_Thank you; Both of you! You have helped a LOT in keeping this story updating as much as it has._

_Without further adue: Chapter 13!_

**Chapter 13: Quotes (Stories and Heavy Things?)**

"Why did I say _that_?"

Neko chuckled as she listened to Kid yell at himself downstairs.

She put her books, newly sharpened pencils, clean erasers, and neat notebooks carefully into her backpack and left her room, her brown boot-like shoes clicking the floor in an oddly calm, repetitive thumping noise as she walked quietly down the white carpet hallway.

Passing Liz and Patty's room she could hear them arguing over which matching outfit to wear that day.

"I want to wear the pink skirt, with matching pink shirt, and the white jacket!" Liz growled, obviously frustrated by her sister's uncooperative manner.

"But I wanna wear the black jeans with the grey t-shirt!" Patty argued back, also frustrated.

"_My_ outfit has black shoes- wear those if you want black clothing." Liz refused to give up.

"Well _my_ outfit comes with these adorable black purses!" Patty was relentless.

Neko had passed their door and was down the hall before she heard any more of the heated discussion.

Neko stood at the top of the stairs and surveyed the greeting hall. All mirrors, pictures, and other decorations were replaced on the walls, whole and symmetrical. The furniture was back to normal as were the walls and carpet.

She smiled slyly, like a small child who was able to sneak a cookie past the parent, remembering that Liz and Patty came home to find Kid vacuuming and wanted to know what Kid and she had done last night. They of course _didn't_ tell them… the whole truth; they had said that they went out for pizza, and that once they got home they had a very… interesting meeting; with _someone _(never specifying _who_), then they ended the "_story"_ by saying that in the end they just went to the school and hung out with a couple of people for awhile.

_Really, though, neither Kid nor I wanted them to worry. It's fine if they don't know. _Neko sighed before walking down the steps.

"Garbage! I deserve to die!" Kid was in the doorway between the kitchen and greeting hall, on his hands and knees he cursed himself.

Neko set her backpack on the foot of the stairs and walked over to him.

"Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing what-so-ever to do with it." Neko looked down at him and smiled.

"What?" Kid looked up at her with confusion, tears drying cold to his cheeks.

"A quote by Somerset Maughan." Neko informed him before offering her hand to help him up.

"Oh." Kid smoothed his jacket with his hands and walked over to corner of the room near the kitchen, which sported his black book bag. "Know any more quotes?"

"Many." Neko nodded, staying where she was.

"You should say more of them." Kid smirked.

"I may run out! I'll say one a day." Neko nodded as Kid walked up to her.

"One more, please?" Kid cocked his head to the side.

"Fine, but quit doing that." Neko flicked the boy across the chin before gazing off into space to find another quote. "Would another death quote be okay?"

"Sure." Kid nodded and waited quietly for her voice.

"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome." Neko smiled, refocusing her vision on Kid. "Isaac Asimov." She nodded.

Kid smiled broadly and walked past Neko, crossing the room to get her backpack.

Liz and Patty were laughing together as they were walking down the stairs, they wore black pants, tight, bright pink shirts, crisp white half-jackets were covering whatever sleeves they had, and wore simple black tennis-shoes. They both carried a black purses in the crook of their arms.

"Very nice quotes." Kid applauded her while picking up her backpack.

He bent back over as the book bag lifted from the ground, he nearly fell over from the surprisingly heavy weight.

"What's in this?" Kid looked over at the girl across the room in both shock and in slight horror that her backpack weighed that much.

"My books." Neko shrugged.

"All of them?" Kid tried to lift the bag again and succeeded in getting onto his shoulder, if only to pull a muscle in his elbow as he did.

"Yeah; I study a lot." Neko shrugged again and let her smile grow wider.

"Hey, what's going on?" Liz looked at Kid, who was trying to balance with Neko's backpack draped over one shoulder while his, light weight one, was tossed over the other.

Kid let out a small yelp before falling over.

Neko laughed while she walked over to where Kid was, she bent over and took her backpack away from him, shrugging it onto her back easily.

"You need to work out more Kid." Neko said simply.

Kid stared at her for a second before bursting into another smile, "yeah." He agreed, picking himself off of the ground.

"Me and Patty just missed something, didn't we?" Liz sighed.

"Yeah," Neko smiled at the sisters. "But it wasn't anything horribly important."

"Okay." Liz shrugged and dropped the subject.

"Let's get going." Kid nodded, back to his more serious personality.

All of the girls nodded in agreement.

Neko and Kid walked side by side in front, Liz and Patty fell into their normal position behind Kid.

As they neared the front door a loud (but at the same time oddly gentle), "pinging" sound echoed through the room.

All four teenagers looked around for what had caused the noise.

"Kiddo's, Are you there? Hello?" Lord Death's voice came out of a near-by mirror that hung over a desk.

"Yeah?" Kid and Neko had both walked quickly to stand in front of the mirror.

"Ah, good- I was worried that you had already left for school… though you _should_ have." Death bounced around a little bit, scolding them lightly for not going to school on time. "There's something happening here, I want you both to get to the Death Room as soon as possible!" Shinigami-sama waved his hand in a beckoning motion.

Both teens nodded with understanding as they moved to leave for whatever emergency was happening.


	14. Mirrors

**Chapter 14: Mirrors (_Another_ fight?)**

Kid turned and burst into a run for the front door, "Liz! Patty!" Kid summoned them. The two girls transformed and Kid caught them in mid-air.

Neko walked toward the mirror.

Kid checked behind himself and saw Neko still talking to his father, "Neko, what are you doing?" Kid stopped and looked at her.

"I'm going to the Death Room." Neko's eyes were wide and innocent as she pointed to the mirror.

"Meet you there then." Kid nodded and sighed in determination and slight frustration at Neko's obviously uncomprehending mind, before running out of the door and skirting nimbly _over_ the gate, his backpack jumped around wildly on his back, he held Liz and Patty tightly to either side of him.

"So, do you know _how_ to do this?" Lord Death questioned, slightly suspicious.

Neko nodded.

"How _many_ times have you done it?" Lord Death continued with his questions.

Neko raised a hand with four fingers held up on it.

"Four times… okay, come use mine in my room." Lord Death finally obliged, nodding his head.

Neko smiled and nodded, instantly turning and running up the stairs, her backpack raising and dropping with every step.

"Come in!" Lord Death opened his bedroom door from the inside and allowed Neko to slip past him before closing it again.

Neko stood in front of the mirror, slightly off center from it.

"Okay, you remember everything?" Lord Death questioned the girl one more time.

Neko nodded.

"Okay. I'll be right behind you." Lord Death motioned with his hand to let Neko go in front of him.

Neko took a deep breath and sighed before walking through the mirror, the glass surface warped like liquid metal before becoming smooth again.

Lord Death stood waiting for a few seconds, alone in the room, gazing blankly at his reflection; slowly he approached the mirror and walked through, the mirror again warping.

Death walked out of the mirror, blinking at the brightness of the Death Room.

He looked around; absently searching for the girl he had just talked to a short while ago. A small figure caught his eye and he found her.

"Do you feel okay?" Shinigami-sama looked at Neko, who sat on the edge of the stage, her legs dangling gently over the lip of it.

Neko nodded happily, trying to reassure him that all had gone like it should have.

"Good, Grim taught you very well!" Death clapped his hands together and bounced around, his voice was an awkward mixture of happiness, enthusiasm, and a hint of depression at the mention of his friend's name.

Neko picked up this slightly sad tone and turned to give the shadowy figure a sympathetic smile.

They stared at each other, studying for anything that could let on to what they were thinking.

"I'm here!" Kid wheezed in a high pitched voice, causing both of the people in front of him to turn their heads. "Father, I'm here. I couldn't get Neko to come and…" Liz and Patty were reforming when Kid saw Neko sitting on the stage. "How'd you get _there_?" He panted; shock and utter confusion twisted his face.

"I went through the mirror." Neko motioned to the tall, reflective glass object behind her.

Kid gave up with a sigh and forced his legs, which now felt like jello, up the stairs to the top of the stage. "What did you need Father?" Kid stood up straight and looked solemnly at his parent's cartoonish mask.

"Maka and Soul ran into a bit of trouble in Italy." Lord Death bounced to the side and back again for no apparent reason.

"Do they need help?" Kid asked, Liz and Patty tensed up behind him, ready to change back into weapons at his word.

"I already sent Stine and Spirit to help them. I called you two here to watch what happens." Shinigami-sama bounced back to the side and stayed there, allowing the four teenagers a clear view of the mirror.

The glass made a "pinging" sound again before rippling like water, clearing up to reveal Professor Stein and Death Scythe starting a soul resonance.

"Witch hunter!" Stine and Spirit called out together.

Long black arrows were suddenly cut to pieces and dropped to the stone below, dissolving as they touched the rocks.

"Witch?" Lord Death bounce closer to the mirror, partly blocking the view of the mirror from Liz and Patty, who sighed in frustration as they tried to peer around the spiky black blob.

Neko's brows furrowed with concentration as she tried to listen to what was happening; she could hear someone; a woman, talking, but she couldn't quite make out the words. _This voice sounds oddly familiar. Where have I heard it? _Neko's concentration and frustration continued to build.

A long, broken up shadow flew across the screen and picked up a girl, who was acting very oddly, soon after _flying_ off with her in its mouth, the silhouette of the shadow revealed an exact resemblance to a snake.

"We can't let her get away!" Spirit's head popped out of the scythe.

"For now we'll let her go. Right at this instant I'm more worried about Soul's condition." Stein sighed.

Neko and Kid shared a worried glance at his words and looked back at the mirror.

Everyone watching felt their breath catch in their throats as they saw what a horrible condition Soul was in, Maka sitting beside him.

"They were in a _bit_ of trouble?" Neko spoke through her teeth as she glared at Lord Death.

Although Kid didn't want to disrespect his dad he couldn't help but also look at his father, waiting for an answer.

They heard Shinigami-sama take a deep breath, as if about to speak, but instead just turned back to watch the mirror, letting out a deep sigh.

Another "pinging" noise filled the room; Neko didn't understand how Death could stand listening to that noise all day.

"Lord Death, we'll be home shortly." Stein had obviously found a mirror to communicate through.

"Okay! Awesome! Great job out there, you and Spirit did marvelous!" Lord Death bounced and clapped his hands, keeping any worry or frustration out of his tone.

"If you could possibly notify the nurse that we'll need a bed ready and have things ready for stitches and bandages; that would help too." Stein looked at Lord Death for a second, worry could be barely detected in his eyes, before he gave an approving nod and drawing his finger tips across the mirror, ending the signal.

"Father, do you want me to go tell the nurse?" Kid looked at his dad.

"No, I'll do it from here. If it was so important that he asked _me_ to do it, it needs to be done quickly." Lord Death became serious for a second and although his voice never dropped from its happy pitch, everyone could tell that he was upset with how the circumstances had played out.

"So, why don't you four go back to the mansion? You've had a rough day now- you might want to go and think about something to do for Maka and Soul, hmm?" Lord Death bounced with excitement now, recovering his jolly mood.

Patty smiled, "yeah! That sounds like fun!" She jumped up and down next to her sister.

"It does, doesn't it? You three can go help Patty if she needs it." Lord Death was bouncing so close to them that they needed to back up.

They turned around and walked down the short flight of stairs. Kid walked with Liz behind him, Patty was talking quickly with plans as she clung heavily to Liz's arm, making her lean to one side.

"Sometimes we can't help the things that happen." Neko had stopped behind the rest of the group and turned around to look at Lord Death.

Lord Death stared at her.

"Sometimes we just need to stop and let other people help, even if you feel like it won't improve the situation… sometimes it does." Neko motioned with her head, first to Lord Death, then to Kid and his weapons. "Sometimes it helps more than you would think possible." Neko smiled and nodded her goodbye before turning and running to catch up with her group.

Lord Death stared after her for a few seconds, ingesting her words, before shaking his head out of it and turning back to the mirror to call the nurse, sighing as he listened to that _horribly annoying_ "pinging" sound as the mirror tuned into the office.


	15. Concern and Bad Feelings

**Chapter 15: Concern and Bad Feelings (Hand Llamas?)**

Kid lay on his back on his bed, both arms were tucked comfortably behind his head as he studied the ceiling.

He was half-heartedly searching for imperfections in the white paint, mostly just as an excuse to let his brain recap all that had happened that morning.

He glanced at one of the alarm clocks on either side of his bed, it sat there lazily, reading; 9:04.

He turned his head back toward the ceiling.

It had been 8:36 by the time the foursome had gotten back to the house, originally they had set out to go straight home but had slightly diverged from the plan when they met Blackstar and Tsubaki in the hall, they had apparently been skipping class and had wanted to know what a group of _"goodie, rule followers" _were doing out of class.

Remembering that Blackstar was a good friend of Soul's, and Tsubaki to Maka, Kid, knowing that Neko wouldn't talk to anyone except a few select people yet, had told them what happened.

The duo left mid-conversation, once they had heard that Soul was hurt, to go to their apartment for an "_amazing gift that _only_ Blackstar was awesome enough to give away" _and for Tsubaki to make a quick batch of "get well soon" cookies.

The group had resumed walking and had split up to go their separate ways once they'd gotten into the mansion.

Kid sighed before sitting himself on the edge of the bed, straightening his hair and smoothing his shirt before standing up to leave, now wanting to go help Liz and Patty with their idea for doing something for Soul and Maka.

Kid walked down the hall, making his way to the art room, where he suspected would be the most obvious place for the twin pistols to be.

"Patty? Liz, are you guys in here?" Kid opened the door and found it empty, left just as clean as when he had last cleaned it.

Kid sighed again as he closed the door quietly and continued his quest to find everyone.

He was about to walk past the staircase and down the other hallway, thinking that the girls may be playing video games or something of that nature when he heard a voice from downstairs.

"Ha, ha! Again, again!" Patty's voice giggled up from the basement.

Kid realized this and, needing to wait a second for his body to understand that it had to move, ran down the stairs.

He held tightly onto the hand rail as he used his momentum to sling himself around the banister and continue running down the narrower flight of steps.

"Happy llama, sad llama, mentally disturbed llama…" Neko's voice reached Kid, causing him to come to an almost immediate stop half way down the stairs.

Kid looked around dumbly before comprehending that her voice was coming from the library.

Kid continued down the steps as silently as possible and grabbed the cold brass door knob, he took a breath before turning it slowly in his hand and cracking the door open only wide enough to see through.

"Super llama, drama llama, big fat mama llama, MOOSE!" Neko smiled as she and Liz watched Patty fall over in another fit of laughter.

"Again!" Patty clapped her hands as she sat back up and crossed her legs, she stared, with her wide puppy eyes open, as she waited for Neko.

"Patty, she's done it _four_ times already- leave it alone." Liz sounded frustrated, but couldn't help smiling at her little sister's attitude.

"Its fine," Neko dismissed Liz. "How about I teach it to you so that you can do it on your own?" Neko shifted her weight to get lower to the ground and closer to Patty, already expecting what her answer would be.

Patty nodded vigorously before snapping back to attention and watching Neko with a calm steadiness that wasn't often seen in the younger of the Thompson sisters.

"Okay, first you do this;" Neko moved the fingers on her hand to make the 'I love you' sign in sign language, she then stuck the middle finger and ring finger out horizontally and placed her thumb beneath it. "This is Happy Llama."

Patty watched, captivated, and copied the girl's movements.

Neko moved the pinkie finger and index finger, which had both been pointing up, down until they were past the other three fingers, which she hadn't changed position of. "This is Sad Llama." She explained happily.

"Ooh" Patty moved her hand again and copied her teacher's instructions.

"Mentally Disturbed Llama," Neko proceeded to move the pinkie and index finger up and down, independent of each other.

Patty giggled while copying, "it's Kid!"

Neko smiled and glanced momentarily at the door. "Not usually. I'd pay money to see him do it though."

Patty's giggling slowed down even though she still smiled. "What about when he has one of his breakdowns?"

"No, those aren't that bad to begin with. They're also more understandable, because of his OCD." Neko shrugged.

"Yeah, they aren't _that bad_ until the idiot decides to have a problem in the middle of a battle!" Liz added, annoyance wavering in her voice.

Kid shrunk back a little at the remark, he felt as though an invisible hand had punched him in the stomach. He had always been told by his partners that he wasn't a big problem.

He returned to his original position and opened the door an inch wider, so that he could see into the room more easily.

"I don't think that he'll ever outgrow his OCD but, I believe that, in time, he'll grow to control it more easily." Neko defended Kid before turning back to Patty, seeming to drop the subject they had found themselves on.

"Yeah, I guess." Liz mumbled before returning to her book.

"Super Llama," Neko straightened her fingers back into 'happy llama' and moved her arm and wrist to make the "llama" "fly".

"Drama Llama," Neko now did the 'happy llama' sign with both hands and put them together in a "kissing" motion.

Patty copied all of this and continued to watch.

"Big Fat Mama Llama," Neko kept both hands up but put them side by side and dropped her index fingers, making a giant hand llama.

"Moose!" Neko opened both hands and spread out the fingers before putting them on either side of her head.

Patty laughed and fell over while copying her.

"Moose! Moose! I'm a Moose!" Patty stood up and ran over to Liz, showing her that she was now a moose.

"But really, Neko, you don't believe what you said, do you?" Liz put her book down and looked at the girl sitting on the floor in front of her, Patty now hopping around repeating the hand llama signs.

"What?" Neko looked up at her.

"About Kid?" Liz sighed.

"Of course I do, don't you?" Neko stood up and looked down on Liz.

"Well, sorta, I don't think he'll ever out grow it." Liz frowned.

Neko shrugged. "We'll just have to wait and see."

"Neko, you'll need to come on a mission with us at some point, then you'll see how annoying and idiotic Kid can be." Liz frowned for a second before adding, "Sometimes I think he's just trying to get out of doing the missions, he'll think of the stupidest excuses to leave, like crooked paintings or non-folded toilet paper." Liz scowled.

"Those are stupid things to you, but to him- those are very worrisome things. His brain works differently than ours." Neko shrugged again.

Kid frowned as he listened to the conversation, finally deciding to try to end it. He walked up a few steps as quietly as possible and turned around.

Walking down the steps as a normal person would he yelled out, "Liz, Patty, where are you?"

He sighed as he opened the library door all the way. "Oh, there you are. I've been looking for you everywhere." Kid tried to put on a relaxed and relived smile but, due to the pain he was currently feeling from the negative conversation about him, he knew the smile didn't look that great.

"Hi Kid!" Patty laughed and put her hands on either side of her head. "Look! I'm a moose!" She giggled and started running around the room repeating the word 'moose' over and over again.

"Yes," Kid watched the girl for a second, a fake happy smile draped across his face. "That's very nice Patty." Kid nodded and walked across the room, he sat himself in a large, plushy, leather chair that was set next to a tall glass reading table.

Kid frowned and took a deep breath as he looked from Liz to Neko and back again, feeling his anger grow inside as his brain repeated and nagged about the things that were said about him.

"Something wrong, Kid?" Liz looked at him with slight concern, sensing that her master's wavelength had something off about it.

"No." Kid shook his head and stared blankly at the glass table in front of him.

Liz stared at the boy for a little while longer before feeling the awkwardness growing worse. "Come on, let's go." She addressed Patty and Neko.

Liz got up and crossed the room, Patty followed her sister's lead and started exiting the room.

As they went through the doorway they realized that Neko wasn't following them and turned to see what she was doing.

"I'll catch up later." Neko nodded, knowing what their question would be, and stayed standing by the chair Liz had just been sitting in.

"Whatever." Liz crossed her arms as she shut the door before walking up the stairs, Patty bouncing behind her.

Once the sound of walking and hopping had subsided Neko walked up to the table in front of Kid and sat on the edge of it without a word.

"Why are _you_ still here?" Kid's voice seemed to be filled with anger and humiliation towards her even though his eyes refused to look at the girl.

"What's eating you?" Neko cocked her head and waited for a few seconds for Death the Kid to reply before she bent forward and leaned down until the two teen's eyes met, than she sat back up, Kid's eyes following her face.

"Nothing that you would understand." Kid snapped angrily before looking back down at the carpet.

Kid hated the way other people acted.

People would avoid him like the plague and not care the tiniest bit about him, but when he was sad or mad, everyone wanted to know all of his business.

It was stupid.

Stupid and _frustrating_.

"What wouldn't I understand?" Neko made eye contact with the coy in the chair again.

"It's none of your business! Why can't you leave me alone? You're just like everyone else- you couldn't care less about someone till they're mad, then you don't want to leave them alone!" Kid roared at Neko, ranting on until he needed to stop to breath. He glared at the girl.

Neko stares back at him, looking nether upset or angry by his accusation. "Do you feel better?"

Kid felt another wave of anger wash over everything else he was feeling.

"There's another thing; how are you always so mellow? How do you ignore everything that someone says and stay so calm?" Kid stared at Neko with growing hatred.

Kid could barely hear what he was yelling at the girl in front of him. His mind wouldn't let him.

"_See how annoying and idiotic Kid can be? The idiot decides to have a problem in the middle of a battle; just trying to get out of doing the missions, he'll think of the stupidest excuses to leave, like crooked paintings or non-folded toilet paper!_" His brain kept it on replay, never braking it's horrible chant.

"I'm just calm. It's who I am Kid." Neko explained.

Kid glared at her for a second more before jumping from his chair and tackling her off the table.

"Kid, settle down!" Neko rolled herself on top of the brawling teen and locked her arms, pinning his hands to his chest.

Kid struggled, growling with frustration as he twisted desperately under Neko's grip.

"Kid, you've been holding things in for too long. I'm the same way; I'll hold in anger and hold in my worries until they explode. You need to calm down." Neko frowned as she held Kid, watching him as he slowly began to take deep breaths and stare at her with worry.

"Your breaking point was when you heard everything Liz was saying?" Neko released his wrists with caution and stayed sitting on him, not sure if he was okay or not.

Kid just nodded, looking at her with a mix of guilt and worry as his mind told him about everything he had just yelled and had done to his friend.

"You're going to be fine. Liz agreed with a lot of what I was saying."Neko reassured him.

"Thank you." Kid's voice came out so small and weak that he sounded like a young child.

Neko smiled and nodded.

They both fell silent and looked at each other, somewhere in the background there was a slightly annoying "pinging" sound.

"Hello, hello, hello! What's up? Wha-" Lord Death stopped in the middle of his sentence. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Ahh!" Neko and Kid jumped up at the same time, standing next to each other and blushing furiously as they tried to avoid eye contact with Lord Death.

"Sorry, I can't tell when something like that is happening!" Lord Death shrugged and held up his hands as he tried to defend himself.

"Father!" Kid's eyebrows furrowed as he understood what his dad had meant.

"Hey!" Neko barked.

Their voices had rung out at the same time, causing them to blush even deeper.

"_Anyways_, I just wanted to call in and say that Soul is okay. Dr. Stein has stitched him up and he's currently sedated." Lord Death made two thumbs up with his giant, blocky, white gloved hands.

"Thank you, Father." Kid bowed a little bit.

"Thanks." Neko smiled and gave Death a returning thumbs up.

"Okay, well, see you later!" Lord Death's image disappeared with a "ping", leaving only the cool, reflective glass.

Only second later there was a repeat of the annoying sound and Death reappeared in the mirror.

"What _were_ you two doing?" Lord Death's mask looked on both of them with suspicion, the eye sockets narrowed as they shifted back and forth between the two children.

"Well, um…" Kid fidgeted, wringing his hands together nervously.

"Kid was really upset, I was trying to calm him down when he tackled me from the table. I achieved the upper hand and was trying to get him to settle down." Neko delivered a report, carefully walking around telling Kid's dad why he had been angry.

"Oh, is that all? Okay. I was worried that it may have been something else!" Lord Death bounced around a bit.

"Are you feeling better Kiddo?" Lord Death bounced closer to the mirror.

"Yes, much better Father, thank you." Kid nodded.

"Well, that great!" Lord Death clapped his hands. "Wait a few hours before coming in to see Maka and Soul. We need to let them rest a bit." Lord Death instructed.

Both of them nodded.

"See you in a bit then! Later!" Another "ping" and the mirror went back to normal, yet again.

"Well, that's a relief." Neko smiled and started walking across the room to the door.

"Yeah, let's tell Liz and Patty." Kid nodded as he followed her.

"That's what I was on my way to do." Neko opened the door and let Kid pass her.

"Liz!" Kid called out as he climbed the stairs.

"Patty!" Neko echoed him as she ascended behind him.

"Yeah?" Liz's voice came from the kitchen.

The young Shinigamis entered the room to find the sweet smell of a cake in the oven.

"We wanted to inform you that Soul and Maka are fine. It'll be a few hours before we can go visit but they should be okay." Neko watched Liz and Patty face's brighten up with relief.

"Good." Liz nodded.

"Yay!" Patty jumped and spun around, clutching her batter smeared cake mix bowl as she did.

"Now, let's get this cake finished!" Kid nodded as he stripped off his black jacket and set it on the counter.

Liz looked at the jacket for a second, and then looked at Kid, she stared at the scene for a second, waiting for Kid to realize that he had just made the kitchen unsymmetrical by putting a jacket on one side of the room and not the other, but the revelation didn't seem to come to her miester.

"I told you." Neko's voice hummed softly in her ear before the shorter girl turned away and focused on what the rest of the group was doing.

Liz smiled softly, _Neko was right._

They all worked diligently as they focused on making the frosting for the cake, the _perfect_ cake for Soul.


	16. Perfect Cakes for Friends

**Chapter 16: Perfect Cakes For Friends (An Old Picture?)**

"Come on, you guys are so slow!" Patty ran ahead of the group, skipping up a few stairs before turning around and running back to the other three teens.

"Hey, sis, whatcha doin'?" Patty looked at her older sister, who was currently staring at the cake with a great amount of concentration.

"I'm spotting the cake." Liz answered, her voice without emotion due to the lack of her mind doing anything but watching the cake.

"What does that mean?" Patty looked at her sister innocently.

"I'm watching the cake to make sure it doesn't fall or anything." Liz explained but kept her eyes on the cake.

"Oh." Patty looked from her sister to the cake and back again, repeating this several times before coming up with a new question.

"Hey, sis," Liz felt her sister poking her arm continuously, each jab getting unconsciously harder.

"What?" Liz diverted her eyes to look at her younger sister.

"Wanna race me to the top of the stairs?" Patty stopped poking her when her sister looked at her.

Liz sighed, "Patty, if I go play racing games with you, there'll be no one here to watch the cake." Liz went back to watching the cake.

"Okay, I'll go watch the cake from up there." Patty pointed to the top of the staircase.

Liz diverted her eyes one more time from the cake to see where Patty was pointing to and nodded, watching the cake once more.

Without another word, Patty left the group and began skipping up to the top of the stairs.

After about two minutes of nonstop skipping Patty reached the school entrance area, she proceeded to turn around and sit down on the top stair.

Minute after minute ticked by, after five minutes the group was only halfway up the stairs.

"Hurry up already! By the time you get up here Soul will already be all better again!" Patty yelled down innocently to the threesome.

Kid huffed, glaring at the youngest of the Thompson sisters. "Maybe we should make _her_ come carry this cake."

"Relax, she's fine. We are taking a long time, in her opinion." Neko interjected.

"She'd know that we're making very _good_ time for two people carrying a cake that's what," Kid groaned. "50 pounds?"

"We wanted to make sure that there was enough for everybody." Liz's voice sounded defensive.

"_Enough_? We have enough to feed nearly the whole school!" Neko laughed, her voice was high from exhaustion. She yawned, trying desperately to ward off the sleep deprivation.

"Why're you so tired?" Liz looked at her.

Kid would have looked at his friend but, a six tiered, four foot high cake was in his way.

"Bad night's sleep- I'm fine." Neko brushed if off.

"Come on!" Patty's voice came down the stair case to them.

They all sighed, in both frustration and in humor of how inpatient Patty was.

From the time they had been sent home by Lord Death, to the time they passed that last step on the staircase, had been about three hours- making it somewhere around 12:30. Most of that time had been used to make the six tiered, four foot high cake, and ice it _perfectly_.

"Let's go!" Patty nagged as she opened the door leading into the school and waited as Neko and Kid carried through, panting and wheezing all the way.

After taking another half hour to navigate through the halls and find the medical office they finally arrived at their destination.

"Whoa!" Black Star gaped at the monster cake.

"What?" Maka appeared from behind some sheets, obviously where Soul must have been lying. "Whoa!" She also looked at the super large cake.

"Surprise!" Patty laughed and ran to hug Maka.

"Patty!" Kid snapped.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Maka must be sore from everything that's happened, you may want to ask her if it's okay to hug before you do it." Kid explained.

"Oh." Patty looked at Maka, waiting for an answer.

Maka nodded and hadn't even finished her nod by the time that Patty had crossed the room and tackled her in a full hug.

"Patty! Hug! Don't tackle her!" Liz sighed with frustration and started walking across the room to pick her sister off of Maka.

"There- done." Kid nodded, looking at the cake which was now sitting elegantly on a blank table, obviously pleased with himself for how the cake turned out.

Neko also nodded and high fived Kid.

"Uh, can we do that with the other hand too?" Kid held up his other hand for a high five.

Neko nodded, amused by his behavior, and high fived his other hand.

"So this cake is for us?" Black Star bounced happily toward the cake.

"No, it's for Maka and Soul, but you can have some if you wish Black Star." Kid smiled and sliced the blue-haired boy a thick piece of cake.

"Mmm! This is really good!" Black Star said, bits of cake flying from his mouth, he continued to shove the food into his mouth.

Neko nodded with a smile to the boy, happy that he liked it.

"Hey, Neko, I wanted to say sorry for the way I acted the first day you were here- even an amazing guy like me can screw up sometimes." Black Star looked at the non-speaking girl in front of him.

"Aw, Black Star." Tsubaki smiled at her miester.

Neko nodded and smiled, showing that she understood and forgave him before she walked over to where the sheets were pulled together to form a wall.

She looked at Maka and pointed to the sheets.

Maka stood up from where Patty was still trying to hug her. "Yeah, he's awake." Maka confirmed.

Neko nodded, went back to the cake, and after slicing a small piece off and putting it on a plate, she crossed to room and entered the sealed off section that Soul was in.

"Hey," Soul looked at her from his spot on the bed, obviously struggling to remember her name.

Neko handed him the piece of cake and stood next to the bed watching him.

"You're that new kid?" Soul asked while taking a bite of the fluffy white food.

Neko nodded.

"That's cool." Soul nodded back to her.

"You're staying with Kid right now, right?" Soul took another bite of his cake.

Neko nodded again.

"Exciting?" Soul gave Neko the empty plate back.

Neko shrugged.

Soul sighed, "Well, thanks for the cake." His voice sounded slightly dismissive, as if he didn't want to need to deal with someone who wouldn't talk.

Neko nodded and left the improvised room.

She stopped almost instantly after exiting; the room was now a crowded and clustered area of overlapping chatter.

Spirit, Stein, Lord Death, Sid, and Nurse Medusa were all standing there, chatting with each other and the younger kids; Maka, Patty, Liz, Kid, Tsubaki, and Black Star.

"Ah, Neko, what's up?" Lord Death made his way over to her, Nurse Medusa and Stein following closely behind.

Neko shrugged.

"Hello, I think this is the first time we've met while you're not hurt." The nurse smiled.

Neko smiled politely and nodded back to her, she didn't know why, but something about that nurse wasn't right.

"Indeed, how're you feeling?" Lord Death bounced around while eating his cake.

Neko nodded, just wanting to leave this make-shift party now.

"Good!" Lord Death said.

Neko could tell that he was about to say something else but didn't stay to find out.

Silently she walked out of the room, nobody noticing her as she did, and continued walking until she arrived back at Gallows Mansion.

"I don't want to be around so many people." Neko said, knowing that Lord Death was behind her without needing to look.

Lord Death sighed, "understandable, how're you feeling?"

Neko turned around and looked at him, "I'm fine, sore, but fine." Neko nodded.

"Go inside and rest. I'll tell Kiddo that you were tierd." Lord Death nodded.

Neko turned to go back inside.

"Oh, Neko," Lord Death called out, causing Neko to turn around and look at him again. "I found this, I thought you might want it."

He handed her a black and white photograph, it showed a tall, thin figure dressed up in a recognizable outfit; a black trench coat, a black dress shirt- with a striped tie hung from it, black dress pants and a pair of polished black dress shoes. To top it all off was a skull mask with a spiky hood, hiding the man's identity completely.

Neko laughed as she studied it, it was her father.

"His outfit never changed." She confirmed, seeing a signature at the bottom reading; _Grim Reaper_.

"No." Lord Death chuckled, also scanning over the picture.

"Thank you." Neko smiled and tucked the picture carefully into her pocket.

"You're welcome." Lord Death nodded before turning around and heading back to the school without another word.

Neko watched him leave for a second before going into the house.

Before lying in her bed to try to make up for the sleep she lost last night due to her nightmares, she studied the picture one last time, placing it carefully on her night stand.

She rolled over and fell asleep, hoping that the next day would be better.

* * *

><p><em>Get ready for some epic arguments with a little white weapon sporting a top hat and cane! That's right- Excalibur! (*Groan from crowd*) I know- I think he's annoying too.<em>


	17. Adventures Part 1

_**EVERYONE PLEASE READ! ** I've decided to follow the Anime. I was originaly thinking about doing this about the Manga but, due to the fact that it's not finished, I won't be. **ALSO**: I've decided that I'll be following more closely to the Anime Episodes. I will STILL put in days that aren't in the episodes but not as much as previously. _

_I hope you still enjoy Silence and you don't knowtice to much of a difference. _

_Sinserely;_

_~Just Me and My Brain_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17: Adventures; Part 1 (Legend of the Holy Sword?)<strong>

Much to Neko's relief, for the next week there was no nightmares or problems at all.

She woke up one morning to find the room oddly calming; the sun trickled lightly through her window, birds chirped happily outside, and the smell of pancakes wavered in her room.

"Kid, you do too much." Neko sighed to herself as she climbed out of her bed.

After making her bed, she slipped on a pair of grey cargo pants and a short sleeved brown collar shirt; it was decorated with two bronze buttons at the top of the neck between where the two collar ends separated.

She decided to also wear a pair of pale yellow converse shoes, making the outfit come together perfectly.

She went to grab her backpack and realized something; it was Saturday. Without another thought she left the room and walked down stairs to retrieve her breakfast.

"You look nice." Kid complemented her outfit as she walked into the kitchen, grabbing a plate already stacked with a pair of pancakes, butter sliced and melting on the short stack.

She smiled and grabbed the plate, "Thank you." She smiled at Kid.

"Welcome." Kid blushed and went back to making pancakes.

"And you remembered- no syrup." Neko bit into one of the pancakes, lightly soaked in butter.

"Yes." Kid smiled and nodded.

Neko went to sit down in the dining room.

"Hey, um…" Kid spoke up after her.

Neko turned around and looked at him.

"Would you like to go to the library… with me… after breakfast?" Kid's feet shifted nervously beneath him.

"Yeah, sure- there were books I wanted to check out anyways." Neko nodded and turned back to the dining room.

_Idiot! I probably looked so stupid to her! I don't know why I was so nervous- I needed to go to the library anyways, I just wanted to see if she wanted to come along. I mean, it's not like I'm asking her out on a date or anything… right? _Kid felt like kicking himself as he continued to make breakfast. He peaked around the corner to look at her

Neko bit into her pancakes. _Why was Kid acting so weird? It was kinda… cute. _Neko stopped chewing for a second, she had been thinking so loudly that she was worried she had said that for real. _I'm happy he asked though- I needed to go to the library anyways. It's not like he asked me on a date or anything… right? _She turned around partly in her seat to look at him.

Their eyes met as they looked at each other at the same time.

Both of them quickly averted their focus to what they were doing before, blushing deeply and mentally kicking themselves until they realized that in order for that to have happened, the other person must have been looking at them too.

This realization caused them both to blush beyond what they thought was possible.

After finishing a very interesting breakfast they decided to leave a note for the Thompson sisters, informing them about their whereabouts and where to find their breakfast.

They made their way quietly to the library, located deep within the school.

As they walked down the unusually long hallway they heard something incoherent that sounded oddly like Black Star and then saw Sid emerge from the library, saying to whomever was in the room; "That would defeat the purpose, I don't spoil my students- that's not the man I was."

As they approached the doors and walked past the zombie teacher they heard him muttering something to himself that they couldn't quite make out.

They entered the room and, trying to ignore the many piles of books, set off to travel to the fourth floor, obviously needing their cards for such matters, where Neko was searching for books on electricity and forms for using it as a weapon.

After nearly an hour of searching and finding nothing even remotely related to what Neko was looking for, they decided to instead look for what Kid wished research; the symmetry of famous weapons.

They left the higher floors after again finding nothing and went back to the first floor, where the mounds of books were seemingly untouched.

"Bwahahaha!" They heard Black Star laughing loudly and after looking around the room for a few seconds they found him sitting on top of a large tower of books, holding a comic book.

"Crisma Justice is _awesome_! He's almost a big a star as _I_ am!" Black Star buried his nose back into the colorful graphic novel. "I never knew they had comic books in the library." He muttered to himself.

Neko and Kid made their way over to where the blue haired boy sat.

"Now, this is the kind of remedial lesson that I can live with!" Black Star smiled.

Kid spoke from where he was standing before Black Star could even finish his sentence. "Hey, keep it down, would you?" Black Star hunched over, obviously surprised that someone was next to him. "You're in a library."

Black Star made a sheepish grin and looked down at the pair of teens beneath him. "Huh, yeah, sorry." Black Star looked back and forth between the two reapers. "What're you two doing here? Are you being punished too?"

Neko shook her head; _no_.

"No," Death the Kid kept from smiling but there was no mistaking the humor in his voice. "I'm here to check out a book; I'm conducting some research into the symmetry of famous weapons." He explained politely, Neko stood quietly next to him, simply observing the two boys conversation. "I'd actually like to take that book that's under your butt if you don't mind moving for a second."

"Oh, right here?" Black Star pulled a faded yellow book out from underneath his pants and held it up before handing it quickly to Kid.

Kid turned away, stepping closer to Neko in the same move.

Neko leaned closer to Kid so that she could read what the book said.

"What does the cover say?" Black Star leaned over them, trying to see the print. "Eex- cal- ee- bur?"

"Almost, Excalibur." Kid corrected him, staring at the cover of the book.

"Yeah, what's that?" Black Star leaned closer to Kid.

Neko marveled at the idea that Black Star had never heard of Excalibur, though from how he had acted every other time she had met him, she couldn't be very surprised.

Kid craned his neck around so that he could look at the boy sitting above him. "From what I've heard it's a legendary weapon, also known as the holy sword."

Neko kept observing the two boys without a word.

"They say; he who draws the holy sword from the ground will be deemed a hero and shall receive ever-lasting glory and fame. I've heard that someone who obtained Excalibur went on to become a mighty king."

Kid studied the book lovingly, "I'll bet a sword as powerful as this one has absolutely _flawless_ symmetry!" He gazed off into space, an expression of bliss plastered across his face. "Oh; symmetry."

"Oh, a king- that sounds perfect to me!" Black Stars eye's almost sparkled with excitement.

Neko chuckled, from what her father had told her and from what she picked up from that annoying thing the first time _she_ met him; Excalibur was a waste of time, of course because of her own slightly satanic personality she wouldn't dare tell Kid or Black Star this. She wanted to sit back and see how they'd react to the cane waving egomaniac.

"Oh, you mean Excalibur, huh?" Professor Stein's voice came out from behind Neko.

"Oh, hey Professor- are you here for punishment too?" Black Star questioned the scientist happily.

"Punishment? What are you talking about Black Star?" Stein was slightly confused and put off by the young child's question.

Kid piped up before Black Star could answer, "Do you know anything about the legend of Excalibur?"

Stein looked down at the floor, "the holy sword Excalibur…" Stein turned away from the group of teens, "it was too much, even for me." He frowned.

Black Star started sweating, "really, you tried to pull the sword?"

Kid leaned forward like a little kid wanting to hear more about a story he thought was really cool. "Even _you_ couldn't draw the sword, Professor?"

Both guys leaned forward to the point where Neko thought that they would fall over.

Stein remained silent, his cigarette sending up a light trickle of smoke.

"Holy sword Excalibur!" Kid looked at the book.

Black Star also looked at the book, "now I'm _really_ interested!"

Kid looked at him and nodded in agreement.

* * *

><p>The three teens stood in front of a very tall cliff, a greenish-blue waterfall cascaded off the edge of it and fell thinly into a river not far from where they were standing.<p>

"This is it." Kid confirmed.

"Yahoo!" Black Star answered back.

Neko stood behind them and nodded to both Kid and herself, _yep- this is the place. And it hasn't changed a bit._

"Excalibur's up there waiting for me." Black Star smiled as he gazed toward the 100 foot cliff face.

"Yes; according to this we'll have to climb up there and find the cave that he's in." Kid studied the book for another second before closing it and tucking it under his arm. He also gazed up the cliff side.

Without a word Kid lowered one of his hands, pink light and black shadows came out of it until a skateboard clattered onto the rock floor beside him.

He stepped on it and held out his hand, Neko accepted it and climbed carefully into the board, hugging tight to Kid in the process to make sure that she had enough room to stand.

She blushed slightly in the act, as did Kid.

With a loud hissing sound, the wheels slid under the skateboard to form four rockets which lifted them both easily off of the ground and up the steep rock.

"Hey! No fair!" Neko heard Black Star yell behind them but by the time he had finished his sentence they were already up and over the lip of the cliff.

"That's the cave you want." Neko pointed to the mouth of a cave.

"Okay, wait, ahh!" Kid's skateboard disappeared from beneath him at the same time he grabbed hold of an overhanging piece of rock.

"Ahh!" Neko yelped in surprise as she fell fully into the shallow river below.

Black Star appeared over the lip of the cliff at that moment, "Ahh, ha!" Black Star landed in the mouth of the cave with a huge splash, sending more water splattering across Neko's face and shirt.

Neko spit the water out of her mouth and sighed as she stood up.

Black Star looked at her, "oh, sorry." He gave her a sheepish grin as she began to wring out her clothes.

He then looked around where they were standing, "Kid's not here, where'd he go?" He looked into the cave. "In there maybe?"

"Black Star," Kid's voice came from above.

Both Neko and the blue haired boy looked up to see Kid hanging desperately onto an overhanging rock.  
>"I can't come down; there's water." Kid stated seriously. "My pants are going to get wet."<p>

Neko chuckled at Kid's predicament.

"What're you talking about?" Black Star sounded confused by Kid's fear.

"You'll carry me." Kid spoke with the same absolute certainty.

"Yeah right, you can stay there." Black Star began to walk into the cave.

"Such a terrible obstacle so early in the quest." Kid sighed.

Black Star kept walking into the cave, ignoring Kid's rambles.

"Black Star, _please_!" Kid begged, his voice full of desperation.

Neko sighed as she looked at Kid, in all of his fear and humiliation, _better see if I can convince Black Star otherwise._

Neko walked quickly after the egotistical boy and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What?" He spun around and instently went calm again. "What?" He asked gently.

Neko looked at him with the biggest puppy-dog-eyes she could muster and pointed to the formal dressed boy hanging from a rock.

"No, he can figure out his own way through this cave." Black Star knew what she was asking.

He turned back around and started walking again.

Neko ran in front of him and put her hands out, gesturing for him to stop.

"_What_?" Black Star was getting annoyed by her charades.

Neko pointed to Kid again.

Black Star, not wanting to be bothered by her anymore, gave in.

"Ugh, fine! Hurry it up though, would ya?" Black Star walked back to where Kid was hanging and waited for the wimpy boy to climb onto his shoulders.

Neko made an umbrella appear from her hand and she gave it politely to Kid, an air of slight humor surrounded her.

"Thank you." Kid took the umbrella and waited until Black Star had started moving into the cave to open the book, he expertly held the umbrella in one hand and the book in the other.

Neko waited until the two guys were a few steps ahead of her before she sent a bolt of electricity through her body, drying the rest of her clothes instantly. She waited for another second, mentally preparing herself to meet Excalibur again, before she walked quickly, easily catching up with the two guys.

"Our chosen path, is truly a cruel one." Kid stated bravely and dramatically.

"Yeah, you really got it rough here, don't ya." Black Star frowned with annoyance.

Neko laughed quietly to herself, _Kid really thinks he's doing something hard? What about Black Star? I feel bad for the poor guy, needing not only to wade through this water but also carry Kid! _Neko shook her head in slight disbelief. _Kid's really making a fool of himself right now. _

"I'll ward off the water from above and you can handle the water on the ground, okay?" Kid said it as if Black Star really had a choice. "We work together, it's a good thing that we're here together- this place would be impassable alone." Death the Kid sounded amazed. "Quite an obstacle!"

"Dude, you're kind of a useless idiot, aren't you." Black Star stated before something above him caught his eye and he stopped.

Kid looked up too.

Neko, neither carrying a boy holding a book and an umbrella, nor a boy being carried while reading a book and holding an umbrella, had actually noticed the object long before them.

A small creature floated up to them, smiling very friendly.

"It looks like a fairy- what's something like _that_ doing here?" Black Star looked up at it and openly questioned its meaning.

"We're hunting after a legendary sword; finding a fairy or two shouldn't be surprising." Kid explained logically.

Neko nodded in agreement and watched the fairy.

"Is Excalibur up ahead?" Kid's voice raised half an octave higher to sound more innocent, polite, and kind. "Are we in the right place?"

The fairy's smiling face suddenly turned into a deep frown, it floated there for half a second longer before fluttering away.

"Well she's not a very polite fairy is she?" Black Star and Kid frowned at the lack of her answering the question.

_Oh, you two don't even know what that was all about yet._ Neko's mouth grew a sly smile. _But you will soon enough._

The threesome kept traveling in the direction they had been until the ground became solid again.

At this point Kid dismounted his friend and gave the umbrella back to Neko.

Neko nodded as she took the object without a word and made it disappear with her hand again.

They began walking again together, Kid studying the book of Excalibur carefully as he scuffled forward.

"It looks like the path dead ends here." Kid looked up from his book.

"Hey, over there…" Black Star looked ahead.

Kid glanced back down at his book, "yes, no doubt about it- that's it; the holy sword Excalibur."

Neko nodded again in agreement, neither boy noticing her mouth turned into a sly smirk.

The three of them looked at the sword that stood, planted into the rock.

They walked over to it, studying it as they went.

"Awesome." Black Star looked at the weapon.

Kid glanced around the room, "the air here is vibrating." He looked back down at the book, Black Star looked with him.

"Standing here, I can easily believe what the book says about becoming a hero and earning everlasting fame and glory. This cave's certainly seems like a magical place." Kid looked back at the sword. "Just look at the sword! Such precise detailed ornamentation on the hilt- not a single nick on the blade! This is indeed worthy of the title "holy sword"!"

All three of them looked at the shining weapon.

"A sword that can only be pulled out by the chosen hero…" Kid's eyes were looking at the sword but his mind was wandering. "By me!"

Black Star stepped forward and easily pulled the weapon from the stone.

The two guys stood there in shock for a second before both of them started rambling at the same time.

"Looks like I'm a hero! A big, big hero! Yahoo! Me, Black Star, a hero! Yahoo!" Black Star danced around the room while holding the sword.

"What? No, it can't be!" Kid fell to the ground and laid there trying to make sense of it all. "It must be some kind of mistake! I hate to break it to you but, you're no hero!"

Kid stood up and the two guys looked at each other.

"How about a "do over"?" Kid asked.

"Huh? You saying that didn't count or something?" Black Star stabbed it back into the ground. "Fine, but I think it'll just be the same every time."

_You bet it will._ Neko watched the boys from a few feet away

Kid stood in front of the sword, "No, this time, I'm going to do it."

"Yeah right! The sword chose _me_ to be its hero Kid. I'm a big fat hero!" Black Star smiled.

Kid reached for the sword and after struggling for a second knelt down and took out a tissue, he began wiping the hilt, "as to be safe." He explained to his two friends as they watched him. "Who knows who else has touched this sword over the years."

"Hurry up and do it!" Black Star interrupted.

Kid stood back up and grabbed the sword's hilt.

It came out of the stone as easily as it did with Black Star.

"It came out!" Kid sounded amazed.

"Huh! How come you were able to get it out too? It must be because I loosened it!" Black Star walked around and knelt, staring at the hole Kid had pulled the sword from.

Neko stifled a laugh and continued to watch them, knowing what was about to happen. _To say all truth; I've never really hated Excalibur. I wouldn't take him as a weapon but if you can get on his good side- he's not all that bad. Even if I did hate that thing… there's no way to run away fast enough now. _She thought to herself.

"Welcome! Welcome to my cave young ones!" A voice echoed around the cave. Both boys looked around, wondering who was talking.

The sword suddenly began to glow and floated out of Kid's hand.

"It's talking!" Black Star whimpered as he and Kid watched it.

* * *

><p><em>So, I've decided to devide this adventure into two parts. (Mainly because the chapter was too long) It works out though; I got to end it at what I think is a pritty good place to stop, and YOU get another few days to prepare yourselves for the cane waving annoyence that everyone knows as; Excalibur!<em>


	18. Adventures Part 2

**Chapter 18: Adventures; Part 2 (Meeting Excalibur?)**

"Please forgive the blatant salutations. I am the holy sword, Excalibur!" On the last word the sword disappeared in such a blinding flash that Kid and Black Star had to shield their eyes.

Neko laughed when she saw the boy's expressions.

"How… incredibly… _lame_!" Black Star looked at the short creature that was dressed in formal but undoubtedly frilly clothes.

"Neko?" The creature ignored Black Star and looked beyond the boys to see the girl, still chuckling, in the background. "Oh, it's been age's since I've seen you last!" Excalibur remarked happily.

"Excalibur," Neko inclined her head to show a shallow bow. "It has, indeed."

"Whoa! So you can talk?" Black Star seemed to be shocked, having for the first time heard Neko speak.

Kid was less caring about her actually speaking and more wondering what she had said. "You know this thing?"

"Fool! I'm Excalibur; the holy sword, not _thing_, second- of course I know Neko! Oh how fun it is to carry on a conversation with her!" Excalibur sounded happy.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Black Star waved his arms around in an attempt to get everyone's attention. "_You're _the holy sword?" He and Kid were trying desperately to not laugh. "In a top hat… seriously?" A chuckle slipped past Kid's lips.

Excalibur raised his cane and pointed it at Black Star's face, "_You're_ one to talk in _that_ silly outfit."

Neko's shoulders shook heavily as she laughed at Black Star and Death the Kid.

"Who are you exactly?" Excalibur continued to wave his cane in Black Star's face.

"Who am _I_?" Black Star repeated the question before answering, "I'm Black Star-"

"My legend dates back to the twelfth century, thank you very much!" Excalibur interrupted the blue haired boy, lowered his cane, and proceeded to address both of the young men. "From the looks of you, you must be miesters."

"Where are you children from?" Excalibur began to wave his cane in Black Star's face again.

"Who do you think you are, pointing that thing at me?" Black Star batted the cane to the side. "Put that thing down, freak."

Kid stepped in being polite as always; "We're from DW-"

"I know that!" Excalibur interrupted Kid. "Now come here, I want to show you something." Excalibur began to walk away.

"Why'd you ask if you already knew the answer?" Black Star questioned the odd looking white creature.

Neko stepped forward until she was next to Kid.

"What's with this guy? Why the heck isn't he wearing any pants?" Black Star questioned his friends about the fuzzy little annoyance while it continued to walk.

"What's he showing us, I wonder." Kid added.

Excalibur suddenly stopped and turned around; waving his cane inches from their faces he began to speak again. "Young ones; do you want to hear the legend of me?"

"Put that thing away!" Black Star ordered the weapon to lower his cane.

Knowing that he wouldn't, and knowing that Black Star was liable to beat the weapon up if it didn't follow orders, Neko stepped ahead of the boys and snatched the cane out of Excalibur's hand.

Amazingly, Excalibur nether made protest nor tried to get the cane back.

"Better?" She questioned the boy farthest away from her.

"I guess." Black Star sighed.

"Do you want to hear a heroic tale?" Excalibur waved his arm around in the absence of his cane.

Black Star pouted. "No."

"Where have you traveled here from?" Excalibur continued, not even paying attention to the boys.

"Like we've said; we're from Death Weapons Miesters-"

Excalibur interrupted again. "What's your favorite number between 1 and 12?"

"What? Between 1 and 12?" Black Star sounded frustrated and confused. "1, obviously, because I refuse to back down until I'm number one."

"And mine is 8- because of its perfect symmetry." Kid explained.

Neko didn't answer.

"Fools!" Excalibur remarked. "What right do you have to choose a number? My legend dates all the way back to the twelfth century, you know."

"You asked us to pick a favorite number, so I did." Black Star's frustration was growing.

"Do you want to hear my legend or not?" Excalibur persisted.

Black Star's face began to twitch. "Ugh, just quit will ya?"

"As I said; my legend began in the twelfth century…" Excalibur started.

"My mornings begin with a cup of coffee and cream at the café. My afternoons begin with a cup of hot tea and two lumps of sugar. And my evenings…" Excalibur continued.

"Let me guess," Black Star interrupted, "booze? Sounds right for an old guy like you."

"Fool!" Excalibur remarked. "In the evening I change into my pajamas."

"Why do we care about that?" Black Star commented.

"That's all irrelevant to the legend." Kid explained.

"Fools!" Excalibur interjected. "Do you know what this hat is?"

Neko had heard this before, though it never ceased to amuse her.

"Huh?" Black Star was now confused.

"I asked; do you know what this hat is?" Excalibur repeated himself.

"How should we know that?" The blue haired boy complained.

"It appears to be made of silk if that's what you mean." Kid explained.

"Fools! If you don't know, I guess I'll have to tell you." Excalibur started. "The taller the chef's hat, the greater the chef."

"Okay," Kid tried to make sense of it, "so what you're trying to tell us is-"

"Fools!" Excalibur interrupted. "Who said that I was a chef?"

Neko laughed.

"Dude, nothing you're saying makes any sense." Black Star explained.

"This is why I can't stand country bumpkins." Excalibur remarked.

Black Star screamed. "You are beyond annoying!" He ground his teeth.

"Black Star, calm down, don't let this guy and his nonsense get to you." Kid spoke softly but it was obvious that he too was annoyed.

"_Holy Sword_, you've gotta be kidding me!" Black Star turned around and snatched the pale yellow book out of Kid's hands. "Let me see the book- It's completely unreliable!" He turned the book over. "Who wrote this, let's see, the author is… E-x-cal-ee-bur?"

"Excalibur." Kid corrected him once again.

"It's you?" Black Star threw the book down.

By this time Neko was bent, doubled over, from laughing so hard.

"No autographs!" Ordered Excalibur.

Excalibur then pulled out two large stacks of paper and handed them to Kid and Black Star.

"Hey, how come Neko doesn't get one?" Black Star questioned.

"Because," Neko stood up strait and explained. "I don't fight with a weapon. When I met Excalibur so many years ago I told him that I didn't want a weapon partner, this feeling was so strong, and still hasn't changed at all, that; I am one of the only people in the world that Excalibur cannot match soul wavelengths to."

"Precisely." Excalibur pulled on Neko's pant-leg making her stand next to him.

"We have, what people would call 'mutual respect'." Neko smiled and looked at the adorable but annoying creature.

"Indeed." Excalibur agreed.

"So you guys can actually get along?" Kid asked, amazed that Neko could put up with such an annoying thing.

"Exactly. I'm the kind of person that, when insulted or ridiculed, will turn it right back at the person who did so. I was able to do this to Excalibur." Neko smiled slyly.

"Yes, she is full of wit, this one!" The weapon hugged her leg, not being tall enough to give her a real hug.

"Aw, thank you." Neko smiled and patted the top of his hat. She kindly handed him back his cane as well.

"So, anyways, before becoming my miester, there is a list of 1000 previsions you must prose." Excalibur informed the two teenage boys as they stared at the stacks of paper in their hands. "Be sure to look through all of them. There are portals."

"Even the backs of these pages have been written on." Kid remarked.

"I greatly look forward to your participation in, rule 452, the 5 hour story telling party." Excalibur added.

"And thus," Excalibur changed back into weapon in a blinding flash and gust of wind, causing the boy's papers to scatter away. "You have been chosen! It will all be yours; victory and glory!"

Both boy's reached for the sword eagerly.

"Victory!" Kid's eyes sparkled.

"Glory!" Black Star's eyes did the same.  
>The both grabbed it at the same time.<p>

"Now, let's go… together!" Excalibur said.

The boy's held onto the sword for a second longer before plunging it back into the stone.

"Yeah, right!" Black Star laughed. "Who'd want a sword like _you_?"

Kid frowned and stared at the object with hatred. "Useless piece of metal!"

"Ta ta for now, Excalibur. It's been great to see you again." Neko patted the sword's hilt.

"Hey, hold on- come back! I'll tell you what; I can lower those 1000 previsions down to 800… just as long as you take part in the story telling party!" Excalibur pleaded with them as they walked away.

"Anyone who can put up with him _is_ a hero." Black Star muttered.

"Disgusting!" Kid agreed.

Neko continued to giggle behind them.

As they reproached the water, Kid again on Black Star's back, they saw the fairy that had flown away from them a little while ago, "Oh, hi- did you meet the holy sword Excalibur?" She asked politely in a high pitched voice.

"Ugh!" Both Death the Kid and Black Star frowned and walked past her without another word.

"Yeah, they met him." She muttered to herself.

"Yep- they sure did!" Neko chuckled as she walked alongside the boys.

* * *

><p>"So, how come you and Excalibur were friends?" Kid asked Neko on the way to school the next day.<p>

"My dad took me to meet him when I was really young. He was always looking for a weapon for me." Neko paused and thought. "He never could really accept the fact that I didn't want a weapon."

"So…" Kid urged her to continue.

"So, I got there and met the little twerp. While he was in the middle of his _legend_ I asked if he was over. He, of course, pointed his cane at me and called me a fool. Me, never liking to be insulted, electrocuted him and took his cane." Neko laughed as Kid looked at her awestruck.

"You really did that?" He laughed.

"You can ask Excalibur- he'll tell you." Neko went on. "He then ordered me to give him his cane back. I again didn't like this, so I said; 'No, you're annoying- nobody will like you if you're annoying.' He called me a fool and, being quick on my feet… and six years old, I retaliated with; 'It takes one to know one.' And I stuck my tongue out at him." Neko laughed.

"For some reason Excalibur liked my _wit_ as he called it and stopped insulting me." Neko sighed. "Since then we've grown to like each other… for the most part. He doesn't insult me- I don't insult him. Because of many different reasons though, we just go together- like yin and yang; complete opposites, but they get along because of it… get it?" Neko shrugged. "Mutual respect for each other." Neko further tried to explain. "It doesn't make a lot of sense but, there it is." She sighed as she finished, arriving at the school entrance just as she did so.

Kid and Neko walked down the hall together, Liz and Patty behind them.

In front of them, not too far away, Black Star and Tsubaki were walking towards them.

They stopped and looked at each other for several seconds before stepping closer and shaking hands.

"We've both got fine partners already, huh?" Black Star smiled.

Kid nodded.

"Hm?" Patty looked at this interaction questionably.

It was then that Neko realized that nobody had told Liz and Patty about their expedition to find Excalibur.

"I'll explain some day." Neko leaned over and told the sisters.

"Alright, it looks like the gang is all here." Soul walked up to them.

"Hey Soul!" Black Star smiled, "so you all fixed up now? The real party can't get started without you around." The two friend's bumped fists.

"Yeah, I'm feeling better." Soul confirmed.

It was then that Neko heard the people around them laughing.

Kid noticed too. "Do you hear that, Black Star?" He stepped closer to the boy. "I'm starting to get the strange feeling that people are laughing at us."

"Huh?" Black Star looked at him.

Maka suddenly appeared out of a doorway, "Hey, Black Star, Kid, come here- I think you better see this." She waved them into the room.

The two boys and Neko followed Maka into the classroom and gasped at what awaited them.

Two stands, both sporting giant, pink flower wreaths, and white banners stood at the front of the class room. The top banner read; "I'll always be waiting for you!" Underneath, two more banners each read; "Death the Kid" and "Black Star".

Neko saw them and fell over in a laughing fit, she heard the boy's speaking together; "Is he serious?" This only made her laugh harder.

"What is that thing?" Maka asked.

"I donno, but it's intense." Soul replied.

Both Kid and Black Star frowned deeply.

"That freak." Black Star whined.

"Disgusting." Kid agreed.

Neko couldn't breathe, she was laughing so hard.

She was going to have a great week.

* * *

><p><em>And so end's another wonderful chapter of Silence! Next chapter... get ready for Liz and Patty- 'cause they're about to confront Kid and Neko about... things. XD<em>


	19. The Super Written Exam

**Chapter 19: The Super Written Exam (Knowledge of Love?)**

* * *

><p>It had been almost a month since Black Star and Death the Kid had met Excalibur.<p>

Since then Black Star and Tsubaki and Maka and Soul had grown a lot stronger, they had defeated an enchanted sword; Masamune, and had acquired a new weapon form for Tsubaki, which was indeed the enchanted sword.

It was actually a shock to everyone when they found that Black Star couldn't handle the power that was emitted from Tsubaki while she was in that form.

This had been found out shortly after acquiring the form, when they had been sent with Maka and Soul to England for a supplementary class.

Black Star had passed out seconds after ordering Tsubaki to change into her new weapon form when they had met an immortal werewolf with a magic eye named Free on a bridge in London.

Maka and Soul had begun to fight much harder after Black Star fainted and had proceeded to, after a few much needed words from Tsubaki, defeat the magic eyed wolf and become more connected as weapon and miester than ever.

After that very nerve-racking fight, the four of them had come back to the DWMA battered and bruised- but alive, much to every one's relief.

Neko thought about all of this while in class.

"Alright people, as you know there isn't much time remaining…" Stein noticed Neko daydreaming next to Kid.

From out of his pocket he pulled a steak knife and, leaning back to get momentum, threw the knife strait at the student.

Neko snapped out of her thoughts just in time to see the knife leaving the professor's hand.

She caught it in her hand by the handle, the sharp blade was an inch away from her face.

A timed gasp seemed to come from the classroom.

Kid stared at her in disbelief, _there's no way that she could've even seen that coming, let alone catch it!_

But catch it she had, she sat now, staring directly at Stein.

"No daydreaming in my class." Stein ordered.

"I wasn't daydreaming, and I'd like it if you didn't throw eating utensils at me." At the end of her sentence she grabbed the steak knife by the blade and threw it, it stuck and vibrated in the corner of the professor's desk, inches away from where he was sitting in his chair.

"You missed." The gleam coming off his glasses only seemed to enhance the look of insanity across his face.

"I meant to." Neko's glasses reflected the same glare as the teacher and student stared each other down for a second.

"_Anyways_," Stein wanted to get back on track. "As I was saying; there isn't much time remaining. In three short days, you'll all be taking the general test for miesters and weapons; The Super Written Exam. I assume that you've all been studying for it."

Stein looked around the room. "Just to warn you, I've written the test questions this year- but if you study the material, you'll all be fine… if not- you may have a problem. In either case; good luck, 'kay?" Stein put his feet against the desk and pushed off. "Class is dismissed."

He flew off the platform and skidded back and forth before the wheels of his chair caught the edge of the classroom door and he fell over, he clattered to the floor- still sitting in the same position.

Chatter started up around the room, Neko could hear Soul telling Black Star about the whole Death Scythe thing that floated around about the test as she walked out of the classroom with Kid and his weapons.

"What? No way!" Black Star leaned closer to Soul before standing up and facing his weapon. "It's settled- I'm going to come in first and turn you into a Death Scythe, Tsubaki!"

"Way cool! This is our first written exam _ever_!" Patty skipped around while the other three teens walked down the hall. "Let's go!"

Neko high fived her as she fell into line with the others.

"Just because they put the word _Super_ in front of it doesn't mean I'm going to study." Kid folded his hands behind his back.

Neko looked at him and scoffed, "that's a mistake on your part."

"You sound pretty confident. You aren't going to prepare for it at all?" Liz walked next to him.

"Well, I _am_ a reaper; I've got a pretty good grasp on this stuff." Kid answered.

"Being a reaper doesn't mean a thing." Neko argued as they turned the corner.

"Sure it does. My father has already taught me much of what they teach here." Kid argued back.

"That doesn't matter! You should still study." Neko nagged as they walked out of the school and into the warm afternoon air.

"Fine, but only if it'll make you happy." Kid nodded, barely realizing what he had unconsciously just said.

Neko didn't notice either.

Liz and Patty caught it though and started giggling about it to each other.

By the time they had gotten home and settled down, Neko going to her room to study, Liz and Patty were almost roaring with laughter over the same subject as their giggling had started out on.

Kid finally took notice. "_What_ are you two laughing about?" He looked from one sister to the other.

This started another series of laughs.

"What… you said… to… Neko!" Liz said between breaths and giggles.

"What did I say?" Kid was very puzzled.

"Fine, _but only_ if it'll make youhappy." Liz laughed.

"Aw…" Patty giggled, "he wuv's her!" Patty baby spoke to Liz and ended up needing to lean on her for support.

Liz lost her balance as she was laughing as well and caused them both to collapse to the floor.

"What?" Kid's face broke out into a sweat. "Wha- what are you talking about?" He knew he sounded extremely defensive but he couldn't help it.

"You love Neko." Liz looked up at her, both of the Thompson's seemed to be done laughing. "Do we really need to spell it out?"

"No! No I don't!" Kid backed up, although he was in the center of the room he was feeling cornered.

"Relax, Kid, we've known for awhile." Patty stood up and helped her sister stand up.

"Known what?" Kid took another step back.

"Kid, really, stop." Liz looked at him with a flat face.

"We're girls, we know the signals." Patty stepped toward him.

"What are you talking about!" Kid took several fast steps back until he finally ended up tripping over his heels and falling to the carpet.

"Kid, it's fine, we're not going to do anything." Liz walked over and sat by Kid, talking to him as if he was a frightened animal.

Patty did the same. "Yeah, you're fine."

Kid finally gave up. "How did you know?"

"The way you talk to her, look at her, act around her, it's all there." Liz explained.

"Yeah." Patty agreed.

"Oh…" a slightly terrifying thought suddenly occurred to him. "Do you think Neko's noticed?" He felt panic at the thought but there was something else there, something that happened when he said her name.

"Maybe…" Liz and Patty looked at each other in that sisterly way that let others know that they were on the same page. "But I think she's been too love-struck to notice anything." They both smiled and looked at their miester.

"Really? To who?" Kid looked at them.

"You really _are_ clueless." Liz shook her head in amazement that this guy could be so oblivious.

"To _you_, silly!" Patty giggled.

Kid stared at them for a second, not knowing if they were joking or not. "Really?" His voice sounded more hopeful than he had wanted it to be.

"Yeah. She diffidently likes you." Liz gushed.

"Oh." Kid blushed and he felt a small smile come over his face, he was feeling happier than he had in awhile.

"I'll leave you to think about that, I've gotta go get dressed for studying." Liz stood up.

"Yeah, me too!" Patty stood up and followed her sister.

"Thank you, girls." Kid nodded from where he was standing up on the floor.

"Oh, and Kid," Liz turned around halfway up the stairs and looked at him. "Wear something more relaxed for studying- I'll be inviting Neko to our study room and you look like you've sorta "sweated out" that suit."

Kid nodded eagerly, realizing that he was now wanting all of the advice he could get.

Liz nodded her satisfaction and continued up the grand staircase.

The two sisters were about to walk into their room when they suddenly seemed to hatch an idea at the same time.

They turned and looked at each other for a second before turning around and walking into Neko's room.

"Yeah?" Neko looked up from her science book.

"Hi!" Patty giggled and proceeded to jump on Neko's bed, nearly making its owner fly off in the process.

"I just wanted to ask you something," Liz made her way across the room and stood next to the girl's bed. "Do you like Kid?"

Neko studied Liz for a second before looking over at Patty, only to find the same wondering yet gossipy look on her face too.

She sighed and closed her book, "why?"

"Just wondering." Patty smiled.

Neko looked at her from over the rim of her glasses and then up to Liz. "Yes." There was hesitation in her voice, like she didn't want to tell them.

"Okay." Liz looked happy.

"Why?" Neko asked them again.

"Well, we were talking to Kid and…" Patty glanced at the door before continuing in a slightly quieter voice. "It seems that he had the same answer when we asked him about _you_."

Neko looked calm but Liz, in all her experience, knew that Neko was very happy to hear this.

"We wanted to know if you would like to come to our study room later." Liz explained. "It's that huge room on the third floor…" Liz thought for a second before adding; "Kid'll be there too."

"Yeah, sure, why not." Neko shrugged and nodded nodded.

"Great!" Patty jumped off the bed and began to walk with her sister out of Neko's bedroom.

"Wait, Liz, are you kind of trying to play "match-maker"?" Neko asked, still sitting on her bed.

"Of course not!" Liz smiled and walked out, closing the door behind her. "That's _exactly_ what I'm doing." She corrected the reaper so quietly that only Patty could hear her.

Liz stood just inside the study room. "Smart girl transformation; complete…" She spun around in her lawyer-like looking purple outfit. "Let's study!"

Patty looked at her and squealed happily, "oh, you look so smart sis!"

"Yeah!" They threw their fist's into the air together.

"What's all this cheering about?" Neko came up behind them carrying a stack of thick school books.

"We're going to study!" Patty cheered.

"Okay."Neko walked over to the far corner of the table and set her stuff down.

Liz and Patty did the same.

Within a few minutes of getting settled, all three girls were reading, taking notes, and memorizing, the only sounds in the room were those of flipping pages, pens scribbling, and breathing.

Or that was what was thought by Neko.

Neko looked over at the Thompson sisters to see how they were doing. Her face paled at what she saw; Liz didn't have notes, she was just thumbing through the pages of her books, and Patty, Neko sighed, Patty was just staring- very intently, Neko must admit- at the cover of her history book.

Neko continued to study for an hour, ignoring the rummaging and clatter of whatever the sisters were doing.

"Oh my," Kid opened the door to the study room wearing one of his favorite shirts; a white dress shirt with two red lines running along either side of it. He had kept his black dress pants on and had changed into a pair of loafers, completely ignoring socks for the night.

Kid saw Neko, who was studying very hard, barely even taking notice to his entrance.

He didn't want to look like he had only come for her, although he had, so he continued to talk to his weapons. "So you two were serious about hitting the books, huh?"

He walked into the room, being careful not to look at Neko, and spoke again to his weapons, "if you guys need help with anything,"

Neko put down her book and looked at the sisters; Patty was sleeping and Liz was plucking her eyebrows. She stared at Kid, wondering if Liz was really right about him.

"Um," Kid stopped at the table and put his hands on his waist, "_that_ doesn't look like studying." He watched Liz search her face in the mirror.

"It's break time right now. I've got this one hair that's longer than the others." Liz explained while she raised the tweezers to her face. "I can't concentrate because it's bothering me."

_You were concentrating before?_ Neko scoffed as she watched her.

"Idiot!" Kid's face twisted in anger and determination. "What do you think you're doing? Eyebrow grooming is to be left up to me!" He pointed at himself before leaning in close to her. "What happens if the left and right sides are _uneven_?"

"Kid, do you remember how long it took the last time I let you pluck them for me?" Liz stopped plucking and looked straight at Kid. "_It was a_ _month_."

"Fine," Kid stood up, "then I promise to do it quicker this time."

Neko watched quietly as Kid dropped to his knees and began to beg, "_please_, I _beg_ you! Huh? Huh?" He looked up at her.

Liz sighed and looked away. "If you're going to keep begging me." She agreed unwillingly.

"Yes!" Kid, still on the ground, raised into a straighter position and smiled happily.

He quickly got to work setting up a large, highly complicated, drawing table.

Neko sighed with frustration and, upon standing up, shut her book that she had been studying a little harder then she needed to, gathering looks from Kid and Liz and a jumpy awakening by Patty.

"Wh-where are you going?" Kid sounded pouty and like he was whining at the same time.

"Don't know if you noticed Kid, but you're being quite loud." Neko scowled.

Liz and Patty stayed quiet, having never seen Neko upset before, even in the slightest. Kid, also offset by the girl's anger, could only stammer out a protest to her leaving.

"Talk to you all later." Neko nodded politely to the weapons and started to walk out of the room.

"Wait- Neko, wait!" Kid lunged forward and grabbed the hand that Neko wasn't using to carry her stack of books.

Neko spun around when she felt his hand wrap around hers.

"Don't go," Kid pleaded.

"I'll talk to you after this test, but right now- I need to eat, sleep, and study." Neko squeezed Kid's hand gently before pulling away and leaving the room.

"Okay." Kid's voice was high and dream-like as he answered her after she had already left.

"You okay Kid?" Liz asked, still in her seat but leaning back, trying to see her miesters face.

"I'm perfectly fine, never better." Kid's voice slowly crept back to normal.

Kid cleared his throat, hoping that it would also clear his mind, and went back to setting up the art table.

* * *

><p>The next three days passed more quickly than wanted and not many people were as ready for the Super Written Exam as they wished they could be.<p>

Neko sighed with anxiety as she pulled pencils out of her back pack.

"Are you ready?" Kid leaned over to her and questioned.

Neko smiled and nodded at him.

"Cool, handshake for good luck?" Kid held out his hand.

Neko laughed and shook his hand, as she pulled away though, Kid reached out with his other hand and put a folded up piece of notebook paper in it.

Neko could see Sid walking into the classroom; under his arm were the tests.

_If I don't hurry up I'll be thought cheating!_ Neko quickly unfolded the paper and read the short note that was written in Kid's handwriting. _Would you like to come with me to dinner later tonight?_

Neko had to read the note multiple times, her mind not grasping the simple idea of a date, before she realized what he was asking.

She looked over at Kid and, after a moment of thinking it over, nodded _yes_.

Kid smiled and nodded back as the tests were passed through their row.

"I'll be watching your exam today." The zombie looked around the room. "Just one more thing before we get started;" Sid walked in front of the chalk board, bringing to attention a boy, bruised and bloody, hanging from it.

"_Black Star!_" Tsubaki's cries could probably have been heard from down the hall.

"A certain _idiot_ decided to sneak into Professor Stein's laboratory last night to steal the exam," Sid looked around the room before continuing. "So, don't be an idiot like this guy." He paused before continuing once more. "You'll have 60 minutes, keep your eyes on _your own_ paper… start writing!" Sid held his hand up as he said his command.

The room was a wall of sound as people opened the packets and started their tests.

Neko scribbled away on each page, _this is so _simple_! My father taught me most of this stuff years ago! _

Someone talking caused her to look up.

"You sure this is everything you have?" Sid held all of Soul's clothing except for his boxers.

"Why? You wanna take my underwear too?" Soul yelled as he stood up.

"Go back to your seat, but this is the only other chance you're going to get." Sid waved him away.

"Yeah, yeah." Soul grumbled as he climbed the stairs to get back to his desk.

Neko's mind began to wander off into space, _no!_ She looked down at her test and finished the last few questions. But, instead of saying anything about being finished, she sat calmly at her desk, doodling on her page in such a way that it looked like she was still writing.

The minutes ticked by to the sound of clock hands.

"Excuse me, Sid, I'm all finished." Neko heard Ox Ford speak up a few rows below her.

"Yeah, just read a book or something… 10 minutes remaining!" Sid announced.

Neko could hear Kid whimpering beside her.

"Dang, it's awful!" Kid sobbed quietly. "Just _awful_, no matter what I do I can't get the '_K_' right!" Tears flowed freely down his face as he picked up his eraser and began to rub it on the top of the thinly worn paper. "I'm just useless garbage! I'm a horrible, disgusting, person who doesn't deserve to live another day."

The paper ripped under the wear of the constant eraser.

Kid stared at it in shock and horror for a second before reacting.

"_Ahh!_" Kid dramatically coughed up blood and fell over, Neko just barely dodging before the boy's head hit the floor where she had just been sitting.

"Uh, Sid, Kid just _collapsed_." Soul informed the teacher.

"Let him be." Sid brushed it off.

Neko stood in the stairwell, now having no place to sit due to Kid's passed out, but symmetrical, body.

She quietly grabbed her exam from her desk and began to walk to the teacher's desk.

She had just reached the foot of the stairs when from behind her Soul yelled, "I don't want your stupid autograph!"

She looked around to see that Black Star had written his autograph on the chalk board in his blood.

Sid whipped out a throwing knife and threw it at the white haired scythe weapon, hitting him in his forehead. "You choose; be quiet or die!"

"Test is almost over!" Sid informed. "You have ten seconds!"

Neko laid the test on the desk, smirking at the hole where the knife had struck the desk three days ago.

"Five seconds left!"

Neko turned and watched the classroom; Maka set her pen down, smiling approvingly. Patty ripped the giant origami giraffe from its spot on the table and snapped it's neck. Liz leaned forward and plucked a single hair from Ox's head that had been bothering her, causing him to scream out in surprise and pain.

The buzzer rang.

"Test is over." Sid informed.

"Dead giraffe!" Patty stood up, holding the broken origami animal proudly.

"Victory!" Liz stood up, holding Ox's hair up between her fingers heroically.

Neko laughed and walked out of the door, a mission to find Stein on her mind.

She wandered through the halls until she found the last place he could be; The Death Room.

Opening the doors with ease, she walked down the hallway until she reached the platform.

Standing on it, just as she had thought, were Lord Death and Stein, happily enjoying a cup of tea together.

"Ah, Neko," Lord Death didn't stand up but instead patted the spot next to him, wanting her to sit with them.

Neko sat.

"What brings _you_ here?" Lord Death poured her a cup of tea.

"I just wanted to ask Stein;" she turned to address the professor. "Can you keep my name and test score off of the class list?"

Stein and Lord Death looked at each other.

"Why? You'll probably do great!" Lord Death took a sip of his tea.

"Exactly." Neko nodded. "You can put it up there as long as it's below 100%." Neko spoke again to Stein.

"Why?" Stein was very confused by this girl's behavior.

"Because Maka's been working really hard to get this." Neko continued when she realized that Stein didn't care. "Also, I don't have a weapon, so why would I care."

Stein began to shake his head when Shinigami-sama chirped in, "oh, just do it Franken, it's not going to hurt anybody."

Stein sighed. "Fine."

_Good!_ Neko nodded. _Now I have the rest of the night…_ she sighed. _I forgot- I have a date with Kid tonight… a _date_ with _Kid_._ Her mind kept going over that until a huge smile was plastered across her face.

"Neko?" Lord Death watched her as she stood up, leaving her cup of tea empty and turned over on her plate. "What's going on?" He wondered why she was smiling so happily.

"Gotta go Lord Death!" Neko spun around and ran off, as she ran through the hall she called over her shoulder, "I've got a date with Kid tonight!"

Stein chuckled as he looked at the reaper's surprised expression.

"I thought something was happening between them." Lord Death nodded with satisfaction before sitting down to continue his friendly meeting with Franken Stein.


	20. Dinner Date

**Chapter 20: Dinner Date (Names and Arguments?)**

* * *

><p>"Okay, first things first," Liz rummaged through Neko's closet.<p>

"What?" Neko sat on the bed where Patty was trying to pick out the best shade of nail polish for her.

Neko had run home and had just been climbing the stairs when Liz and Patty heard her and asked why she was acting the way she was.

It was because of telling the girls that she was going on a date that she found herself in the position she was in now; Patty doing her nails and makeup and Liz picking out her clothes.

"Sis, do you think grey would be too ironic?" Patty called over to her sister before Neko's question could be answered.

"Why?" Liz stopped rummaging and turned her head to look at her younger sister.

"Well, because her name is Neko _Grey_." Patty explained.

"Um," Neko piped up. "_Grey_ is my middle name." Neko explained.

"What's your last name than?" Patty turned back to the girl who sat on the bed with her, allowing her sister to restart poking around the various outfits.

"Reaper." Neko shrugged as if it were obvious.

"Neko _Reaper_?" Patty asked. "It doesn't… sound… right." She wanted to choose her words carefully.

"I know. That's why I commonly go as Neko Grey." Neko chuckled.

"O-oh." Patty sounded like something in her mind had clicked.

"Reaper?" Liz turned away from the closet once again and looked at Neko, puzzled. "What was your dad's first name?"

"Grim." Neko looked past Patty and at her older sister.

"So your dad, the grim reaper, was actually _named_ Grim Reaper?" Liz found that to be very ironic.

"Yeah." Neko chuckled, "very obvious."

"Yeah, he couldn't have had something more creative… like…" Liz could only think of Kid's father. "Death?"

"That's Kid's father." Neko had seemingly just read her mind.

"No, he's _Lord_ Death." Patty corrected.

"Now that I think about it, they seem to have different names consisting with what origin they came from." Neko's brow furrowed with thought.

"What do you mean?" Liz walked over to the bed, forgetting about the clothes for that moment.

"Well, my father came from England. Back 800 years ago, he was known as the Grim Reaper." Neko continued when she didn't see anyone catching on. "My father told me that Lord Death was from Japan. I think that _Lord_ Death is making a reference to the Japanese name for a reaper; Shinigami, which translates into god of death."

Comprehension lit up both girl's faces. "Oh!" They both nodded at the same time.

"Yeah!" Neko slowly got off the bed and began walking out of the room in such a way that the sisters didn't even notice, nor did they realize that they were following her.

"So, now that that's settled, I've got to get ready!" Neko spun around and slammed her bedroom door shut, locking it behind her.

Liz and Patty stared at the door for a second, dumbfounded, both thinking the same thing; _did she _really_ just do that?_

"Now, to get ready," Neko clapped her hands together as she walked toward the closet.

After awhile of searching, she decided on a pair of faded blue jeans, a nice white dress shirt, and the pair of pale yellow shoes she had worn the day that she went with Kid and Black Star to meet Excalibur.

After dressing and making sure it looked okay, she looked through Patty's _very_ large collection of assorted nail polishes and make-ups. She decided to leave her nails blank and put on some grey eye shadow, not wanting to bother with any other make-up.

She glanced at the clock and realized that it was nearly five o' clock.

Her eyes widened and she quickly went to her bedroom door and opened it, "wow!" Patty looked at Neko as she walked out into the hall. "Sis! Sis, come look at Neko! She looks amazing!" Patty grabbed Neko by the wrist for no reason other than to make sure she didn't run away before the oldest Thompson sister could look at her.

Liz's eyebrows were raised with surprise and satisfaction. "Nice." She smiled.

Neko nodded, blushing slightly from the way the two were acting. "Has Kid been waiting?" She remembered the time.

"Just got downstairs." Patty was acting quite serious. "We were just coming up here to tell you that when you came out of the room."

"O-okay." Neko felt something buzzing around her stomach so badly that they felt more like angry wasps then harmless butterflies.

"What's wrong?" Liz looked at the girl who now had a nervous expression drawing across her face.

"I…" Neko looked at her. "I've never been on a date before."

Liz nodded in sympathy, "I know how a first date feels, just remember to relax and be yourself." She walked Neko down the hall and stopped just before coming into sight from the bottom floor. "Have a good time," She nodded and motioned for Neko to go.

Kid was standing at the front door, wondering where his weapons had gone; he had only sent them up to check on Neko.

He looked around the room and saw his date coming down the stairs, his stomach ached with nervousness.

"Hey," Kid greeted Neko at the door and looked at her outfit; it was nice while still being quite casual. He was happy, he had been slightly expecting this and decided to also dress slightly casual, a black, short sleeve button down shirt, his black jeans, and a simple pair of black dress shoes.

"Hi." Neko greeted back, also looking over his outfit.

"So what do you want for dinner?" Kid asked her politely while opening the door and allowing her to walk out onto the porch.

"I thought you had something planned." Neko shrugged as Kid closed the door behind them, allowing them to stand on the porch in the slowly fading daylight.

"Actually, I didn't think I'd get this far." Kid scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.

"Why not?" Neko chuckled.

"Didn't think you'd want to go out with _me_," Kid shrugged.

"That's a stupid reason." Neko laughed and looked around absently, "I wouldn't mind pizza… or tacos." She looked at him, waiting for his response.

"I know just the place!" Kid walked away from the house, Neko by his side, and started going down some eerily familiar streets.

"Um, Kid, where are we going?" Neko sounded nervous.

"Mr. Polli's Pizzeria." Kid smiled.

Neko stopped walking instantly.

"What's wrong?" Kid's face fell into a frown.

"How?" Neko was confused, thinking that the restaurant had closed after the fight with Skift.

"Oh!" Kid understood what had confused her. "Skift was _impersonating_ Mr. Polli. Mr. Polli was found the day after our fight- he had been locked in a closet and had a soul protection barrier so that nobody could see him with Soul Perception." Kid explained. "He's fine now, he decided to keep his shop open too, and I wanted to bring you there so you could meet the _real_ Mr. Polli and taste some of the best pizza _ever_."

"Okay, sound good." Neko smiled and began walking with Kid again.

Shortly after this discussion they arrived at the pizza place.

Kid stepped forward to beat Neko to the door and politely opened it, always following her to walk in first.

The restaurant was almost empty, a few people here and there, but for the most part it was very quiet and peaceful.

"Ah! Death the Kid!" A balding man as tall as them sporting a nice white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and an apron, greeted him. "It's so nice to see you again, how've you been?"

"I've been quite well, thank you, and how have you been?" Kid smiled back at the man.

"Oh, Kid, always the one with manners!" Polli clapped his hands together. "I've been doing _well_ also, people are finally coming back."

Kid nodded and motioned to the girl standing politely beside him, "I'd also like you to meet my date, Neko Grey."

Mr. Polli gasped and eagerly grabbed her hand, kissing it gently and patting it, flour puffing into the air and over Neko's hand with every pat.

"It's very nice to meet you, Neko!" Mr. Polli smiled at her before turning back to Kid, "she's one you'll want to hold on to!"

Mr. Polli lead them to a table that sported a large window, allowing the persons sitting there to enjoy a view of both Death City and the desert, sand now neon orange and pink from the increasing lack of sunlight. "Best table in the house!" He pulled out an order pad and pencil, "Now, what would you like?"

"I'd like what I normally have when I come here." Kid nodded.

"Thin, stuffed, crust, little sauce, extra pepperoni and extra cheese, arranged as symmetrically as possible," Mr. Polli remembered out loud while writing the order down.

"And you?" He turned and smiled at Neko, who was sitting directly across from Kid in the booth they had been given.

"What Kid's getting actually sounds really good… do you think you could add bacon to it?" Neko looked from one guy to the other.

"Yeah, sure." Kid's face told her that he'd never had bacon on pizza.

"I'll make it as symmetric as possible," Mr. Polli smiled, "and to drink?"

"Coke." They both answered at the same time, causing them to look at each other in surprise that they liked the same things so much.

Mr. Polli just laughed and wrote it down, "alrighty then, two coca-colas." He slipped the pad of paper into a pocket in his apron and walked away.

The teens caught each other's eyes as they each glanced to peak at them, their eye's stayed locked, each zoning into their own little world; thinking about how the other person looked and how much they liked the person they were staring at.

This went on for a long while, neither concentrating on the time, until Kid suddenly snapped out of it- thinking that he should start a conversation.

"So?" Kid leaned into the table.

"So, what?" Neko looked back at him, also leaning forward.

"What do you think of Mr. Polli?" Kid seemed to really want an answer.

Neko looked at the kitchen door, from where behind you could hear Mr. Polli calmly, but strictly, barking out orders for the pizzas. "He's nice, I like him." Neko nodded, "he seems to care about his customers."

Kid nodded with the satisfaction of knowing that Neko liked the owner of his favorite pizza place.

"So, how do you think you did on the test?" Neko looked over at Kid and instantly regretted asking when she remembered that Kid hadn't even finished writing his name.

"Um…" Kid looked down at the table, embarrassed at what his answer would need to be.

"Sorry, stupid question…" Neko sighed, _great way to start out the night; amazing job Neko- nobody could've messed up more then you right there!_

"No, its fine, how do you think you did on the exam?" Kid redirected the question at her.

"Well…" Neko _knew_ how well she did on the test. "I think I did a good job."

"I would hope so; you finished in under half of the time they gave us." Kid chuckled.

Neko looked at him, shock in her eyes, thinking that he had not seen her finish due to his own problems with his… _name_.

"Here we are; two sodas!" Mr. Polli set the two cups down and laid straws, sealed in paper, next to them.

"Oh, Kid," Mr. Polli smiled as he looked at the two of them, "I'm so happy that you found a girlfriend!"

"Um…" Neko's shocked gaze transferred to the pizza shop owner.

"We're not boyfriend-girlfriend." Kid explained, "This is our first date."

Neko just nodded in agreement, not knowing what to say at a moment like this.

"Well, I have a feeling you'll grow closer very quickly, it's like you were made for each other!" Mr. Polli nodded to himself before turning away.

"Oh," Mr. Polli whipped half of his body around and looked at the kids again. "You're pizza will be out in roughly five minutes."

"Wow, how long has it been?" Neko sat up strait and looked at Kid, Kid returned the shocked stare.

"It's been ten. You two were staring at each other for a good five or so minutes before you started talking." Mr. Polli chucked to himself and walked away, muttering to himself something about love birds.

"So, I asked a question, now you ask one." Neko smiled at Kid.

"Hum…" Kid thought for a moment. "When will I be able to meet your family?"

Neko's face paled so much that it looked as if she had absolutely no pigmentation at all, "not for awhile… it'd be pretty difficult."

"Why?" Kid was getting annoyed by the fact that both his father and her had not given any direct answers to where her family was.

"They're kind of… in a… rut, right now." Neko picked her words so carefully that it reminded Kid of his father's own avoidance skill.

"Oh?" Kid leaned back against the booth. "How so?"

"Well, you know," Neko laughed nervously. "Problems came up and the next thing we know- they're stuck in a rut."

"When do you think they'll get out of this rut?" Kid was talking faster as he grew more annoyed with the answers he was receiving.

"Well, it's pretty deep- I don't think they'll ever get out." Neko's voice dropped into a slightly sadder tone.

Kid was too frustrated to notice. "How deep is the rut?"

"I'd estimate about six feet." Neko's voice became more nervous but also more sly and witty.

"Well, considering how good of friends my father and yours used to be, my dad could almost certainly help out." Kid was boiling under his skin.

"No, your dad couldn't help out with all the money in the world." Neko retorted.

"Here is your pizza!" Mr. Polli smiled, wanting to break up the sudden argument.

"Thank you." Neko nodded and smiled, instantly resetting herself to before the discussion about her family had come up.

Mr. Polli smiled and nodded, he walked away- worried about what could happen next.

"Kid, I'm sorry but, I don't want to talk about my family right now. Could we switch to a different topic, I don't want to ruin this night." Neko sighed and looked pleadingly at Kid.

Kid had obviously been about to say something of the same sort because he also nodded.

They each took a slice of the pizza, taking the pieces that left the food as symmetrical as possible, and set it on their plates.

"Well?" Kid motioned for her to try it.

"I want to see you try it with bacon." Neko also motioned for Kid to try his slice.

"At the same time then?" Kid smiled and picked up his slice of pizza.

"Agreed." Neko picked up her food and they took a bite at the same time.

"Mmm!" Both of them chewed their pizza and nodded with happiness at the taste.

"See? Isn't it good?" Neko said after she swallowed her bite of pizza-y goodness.

"Yeah, the bacon's a good addition, I'm surprised that I never thought about it before." Kid swallowed. "You like the pizza?"

"Yeah, it's really good." Neko took another bite.

Kid only nodded as he followed her in suit.

Within an hour they had finished the entire pizza and were paying Mr. Polli for the delicious dinner.

"Thanks!" Neko called over her shoulder as she walked out of the pizza place.

"Thank you, Mr. Polli." Kid nodded toward the elderly pizza maker before walking out behind Neko.

"So," Kid took a breath of the dark and quickly cooling night air, being that they were basically in the dessert; it didn't take long for the city to go from hot to cold. "I'd like to thank you for going on this date with me."

Neko laughed. "I'd like to thank _you_ for putting up with me long enough to go on a date."

Kid chuckled, rounding a corner so that the house's towers came into view a few blocks away.

"Maybe we could do it again sometime?" Kid's voice had wanted it to sound casual, but because of his nervousness due to the argument earlier it statement had sounded like a question.

"Yeah, sure. That'd be fun." Neko smiled and pushed her glasses up.

"Oh! The exam scores will be here tomorrow." Kid remembered.

"Yeah, I'd forgot about that!." Neko laughed, realizing that she'd had so much fun on the date that she had forgotten about school for awhile.

"I can't wait to see how you did." Kid smiled.

Neko sighed, "um…" she stared at the moon to avoid looking at Kid. "my score might not be up there."

Kid laughed as he walked forward to open the gate of his house. "Why?"

Neko shrugged, "Reasons."

They walked onto the porch.

"I had a good time, thanks Kid." Neko nodded.

"Yeah, I did too." Kid nodded.

Neko stared at him for a second longer before wrapping her arms around him in a quick but extremely gentle hug.

Kid sighed with happiness as Neko's warmth surrounded him for a few seconds.

She broke away and opened the door, "I think I'm going to go relax in my room, it's been a long day after all." Neko walked inside and up the grand staircase and a few seconds later her door could be heard closing.

Kid sighed as he walked over and sat on the couch, still upset with himself about how they had argued. _She never wants to go out again. How could I be such an idiot? _

"Hi Kid!" Patty popped out from behind the sofa with her sister.

Unknown to Kid and Neko, they had been crouched there for awhile, but- considering that neither knew this, Kid jumped with surprise as his weapons came from out of nowhere.

"Oh, hi Patty, hello Liz," Kid sighed again.

"How'd the date go?" Liz leaned on the back of the couch.

"Did ya kiss her?" Patty bent over the couch and stared up at her miester's face.

"Patty!" Liz scolded her.

Patty went quiet.

Kid answered Patty quickly, "we didn't kiss… she gave me a hug." Kid explained before falling back into his own world.

"So…" Liz urged Kid to start speaking.

"It went pretty well… but I ended up ruining it by asking her too many questions about things she didn't want to talk about." Kid resisted the urge to actually stand up and kick himself.

"Was she mad?" Liz's face switched from one of gossip and curiosity to one of concern.

"I don't know, she didn't look like it but…" Kid sighed. "I just feel stupid about the whole thing."

"She looked fine to me when you came home. I think she's fine." Patty smiled.

"Yeah." Kid grunted.

"Okay, well, Lord Death checked in and said that he has a mission for us tomorrow. He also wanted said to call, because to know how the date went." Liz nodded and grabbed her sister, motioning to follow her to bed.

"Okay, thank you, girls- you've been a huge help." Kid nodded before getting off the sofa and walking over to the nearest mirror.

"42-42-564…" Kid muttered to himself as he wrote the numbers on the smooth glass.

There was a pinging sound that seemed to get on everybody's nerves before it opened up to reveal Lord Death, bouncing around at the sight of his son. "Hello, hello, hello! So, Kiddo- how'd it go?" Death seemed to be more excited than usual.

"It went okay." Kid shrugged.

"Okay? Why just '_okay_'? When you came to me earlier asking for advice I expected that you'd use it, did you?" Lord Death got closer to the mirror so that he could read Kid's nervous body language more easily.

"Why won't I be able to meet Neko's family?" Kid suddenly blurted out.

"Kiddo," Lord Death sighed, suddenly sounding very tired. "It's complicated."

"I think I can understand it," Kid frowned.

"I'm not going to tell you." Lord Death stated this so bluntly that Kid was shocked, it was more common for Lord Death to beat around the bush to avoid answering questions.

_This _must_ be a touchy subject if my father would act like this._ Kid though solemnly.

"Hope you get a good night's sleep, son." Lord Death added before breaking the connection.

Kid frowned and walked back to the sofa, even as midnight approached Kid didn't move, his eyes stared off into space but his mind was overwhelmed in thought- trying to piece together what was wrong with Neko's family.

* * *

><p><em>Well, there it is! Kid and Neko's first date! Next; get ready for our favorite Nedhogg pirate!<em>


	21. The Soul Eating Black Dragon Part 1

**Chapter 21: The Soul Eating Black Dragon; Part 1 (First Mission with Kid?)**

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream…" Patty sat in the small boat and rowed at a relatively relaxing pace.

Kid stood on the very front edge of the boat, wearing a black cloak and skull mask that made him look like his father.

Neko stood opposite of Kid, not only to even out the symmetry but also to make sure that the boat didn't nose-dive into the ocean.

"Come on, can't you row any faster?" Kid said, he sounded aggravated.

Patty continued to sing her song about rowing a boat, repeating it just like she had for the last two and a half hours.

"Would you explain to me what we're doing in a rowboat in the first place? Why not a motorboat or a nice big cruise ship- you know, something with an engine maybe?" Liz yelled at her miester from the position she was in as she also rowed through the blue water.

Kid took off his skull mask and continued to look out over the water, "quit complaining." He turned half way around to look at his weapons. "Anyway, we've almost reached our destination now."

Liz turned to see the cliffs and hear the annoying bickering of the seagulls. "That's where we're going? That's a nice enough looking village I guess. Seems pretty peaceful."

Kid looked at the village, which could just be seen over the lip of the cliff, in anger, "I'm not so sure about that."

"Why?" Liz watched as the cliffs indented to show more sparkling blue water. "The place looks okay to me."

"Look over there." Kid nodded toward a place where the village _should have been_, instead it was replaced by what looked like a bite groove.

Liz's eyes filled with fear, "what the heck happened?"

Patty continued to sing merrily.

"A few days ago the people who lived here were swallowed up by something." Kid explained.

"Along with their homes!" Liz's voice had a high pitch tone, signaling fear. "Please" Liz's voice sounded, somehow, like controlled panic. "Don't tell me we're here to find out what's responsible!"

Neko said nothing but stared at the debris of some of the houses as they bobbed in the water.

"Let's go. We need to gather information." Kid's eyes narrowed as he watched part of a wooden roof float by.

They ended up grounding the boat on a shallow shore that sat in front of a sheer rock face.

"How're we gonna get up it?" Patty tilted her head all the way back and stared at the cliff childishly.

Neko stood beside her and looked at the cliff. "We fly."

"What?" Liz looked at her with confusion until Kid summoned his skateboard. "Oh." She felt slightly stupid.

Liz and Patty transformed and were caught by Kid.

"Getting on?" Kid hovered on his board next to Neko.

"You have Liz and Patty, I can get myself up." Neko smiled at him before running toward the cliff face.

Kid watched, waiting for her to crash painfully into the rock, but something her didn't expect happened instead.

Neko jumped as she got closer to the wall and as her feet connected to the rock she sent out an electric pulse, connecting her electric pattern with the one coming from the stone, allowing her to speed along the vertical angle as if she were still horizontal.

"Whoa, is she running up the cliff?" Liz watched Neko from her gun form as Kid used his skateboard to send himself up.

"Yes, she is." Kid answered Liz.

"How?" Liz was awed and confused.

"I don't know." Kid frowned as they went over the top of the cliff and landed softly on the grass.

Kid threw the weapons over his shoulders, allowing them to transform back into their human forms.

"Neko, how'd you do that? You were all like," Patty ran around, wishing that she could really imitate what the reaper had been doing.

"It's simple really," Neko explained. "Everything in the world has electricity in it- I just find these patterns and signals and use my own soul wavelength to manipulate them into doing whatever I need."

"Wow, cool." Liz put her had on her hip and looked at the girl.

"So does that mean that you could control _me_?" Patty asked.

Neko was surprised, most people didn't catch onto that aspect until awhile after she told them what she could do. "Yes."

"That's awesome!" Patty jumped around and giggled.

"This way." Kid spoke for the first time since they had landed.

While the girls had been talking, he had been using his soul sensing ability to see if there were any humans still alive in the village.

He had found one.

The four of them set off to where Kid was leading them and eventually found themselves standing in the doorway of a beat up house, a terrified man huddled in the corner of the room with a blanket.

The Thompson sisters stared in shock while the two reapers tried to get answers.

"Can you tell me what happened here?" Kid looked around the dirty house.

"It was the mist!" The man whimpered.

"Mist?" Kid looked at Neko before looking back at the man, "What do you mean? What kind of mist?"

The man let out a choked sob from his corner of shadows. "No, _no_!" The man curled deeper into himself as his fear level rose.

"Calm down, don't worry, you're alright now." Kid spoke sternly but soothingly. "We're here to help you, we've come from the DWMA to put a stop to whatever did this."

"The academy?" The man uncurled himself slightly at the mention of the school.

"Yes." Kid answered calmly. "So please, tell me in as much detail as you can, what happened here."

The man's face broke out into a heavy sweat. "Bla- black dragon…" his voice sounded choked with fear and panic.

Kid lifted his head with recognition of the name.

"The Black Dragon came," The man's panic levels sky-rocketed. "_The Black Dragon came and ate our village!_" The man shrieked out.

Kid and Neko were by his side immediately.

Neko placed her hand on the man's shoulder and, using the technique that she had only minutes ago explained to Patty, began to calm the man down.

"Black Dragon… interesting." Kid watched Neko calm the sobbing survivor down.

* * *

><p>"Elephant, chimpanzee, dog, cat!" Patty pointed to each picture in the book and stated the names of each animal.<p>

"Very good." Liz praised her sister.

Neko patted Patty's shoulder and looked down the barely lit aisle of books to see how far Kid was coming along with his research.

"But aren't you a little old for picture books?" Liz asked her sister, who was approaching 14, and who was also sitting in her chair acting like a bird.

"Coo, coo!" Patty flapped her hands up and down.

"Let me guess… a pigeon." Liz was leaned against the wall of the library.

Patty changed animals when her sister guessed correctly, "oink, oink!"

Neko chuckled at the teen's amusing behavior.

"Yeah, and that was a pig." Liz leaned off the wall slightly.

Patty leaped from her seat and bent over, she hopped around while waving her arms at her sides. "Coo-ka-doodle-do!"

Liz's face showed how annoyed she was. "Come on Kid." She tried to look down the hall but could only see the faintest outline of her miester's body. "Tell me we're done with this musty old place, it's suffocating in here!"

Neko heard this remark and sniffed the air, Liz was right- it was musty, and the air was thick and uncomfortable to breath, but Liz was also exaggerating; it wasn't suffocating- not even close.

"Don't be such a slacker." Kid sighed. "Preliminary research is necessary…" Kid looked at the wrinkled old book he held. "Which is what I would tell you, if I didn't hate this place too." He closed the book.

"I think I have enough basic information," Kid looked at the three people waiting for him. "Let's go, we need to get started."

Liz looked bored and unemotional, "good, than what's our next destination?"

Patty suddenly peaked out from around the bookshelf, her arms held in arcs around her head like the monkey in the picture. "Ooh, ee!"

* * *

><p>"Row, row, row, your boat, gently down the stream…" Patty had restarted her singing when they had climbed into the boat and had pushed off.<p>

"Oh come on, you can row faster than that, can't you?" Kid asked from his spot on the front of the boat.

"Why're we back in this stupid rowboat? Whatever we're doing better be real important- or else!" Liz screamed angrily at Kid.

"Of course it is! Would I make you work this hard for nothing?" Kid chided.

"Well knowing you- yes." Liz frowned. "So, who is this Black Dragon thing we're after?"

Neko turned slightly as she was also interested in hearing the answer.

Kid took his mask off, making it easier to be heard. "This part of the Baltic Sea is a key maritime area. There has been a lot of boat traffic out here. Sailors have been crossing through these waters since the Vikings first set sail."

"'Kay, but what does that have to do with some scary black dragon?" Liz stopped rowing and looked at Kid.

Patty was zoned out, happily rowing and singing her song.

"Not ever boat makes it to shore, so in an area where there are many ships crossing…" Kid explained.

Liz stared at him with annoyance. "That also means that there are a number of ships _sinking_."

Liz paled, "huh? Kid, I don't think I like where this is heading."

Kid continued without paying the teen any recognition. "Just because a ship _sinks _doesn't mean it'll stay _sunk_." Kid said this just as a sudden cloud of fog began to surround the small boat.

Patty giggled until she saw the mist, "oh…" she went quiet.

"What is this?" Liz frowned.

"A cloud!" Patty answered her sister.

"It's mist," Kid also answered.

"What _kind_ of mist?" Liz grew more afraid.

"We're getting close," Kid ignored Liz. "Stay sharp." He whispered the warning to everyone.

"What?" Liz jumped at looked at Kid.

"I sense a countless number of souls in this area," Kid's voice grew from a whisper to a soft murmur.

"So what does that mean?" Liz whimpered.

"We're getting close," Neko repeated what Kid had said, trying to make Liz understand.

Suddenly a large ship appeared next to them in the water.

"_Ahh!_" Liz screamed as all four of them looked at the ship.

"It means that's the Black Dragon." Kid explained, knowing that only now Liz would understand.

"What is that thing?" Liz shrieked.

Neko sighed with annoyance and rolled her eyes. _Liz keeps asking questions but won't open her ears enough to hear the answers!_

"See that writing?" Kid motioned toward an engraving on the ship, it read; 'Nedhogg'.

"Nee-duh-hog?" Patty tried to read it.

_She's as bad as Black Star._ Neko remembered how Black Star couldn't read the word _Excalibur_.

"Nedhogg is the name of a black dragon which appears in Nor mythology. According to the legend, it's also the name of a ghost ship that haunts these waters." Kid recounted the information he had gathered from the books. "Many people have believed those legends to be true. Now I can see why they would."

Kid suddenly motioned strongly at the ship, "right! Ladies, let's go! We're heading for up there!"

"No way!" Liz cried. "Not a chance, it's a ghost ship! What if we see any ghosts on it?"

Something came over Patty as she suddenly left her childish personality behind and became serious, "Row!" She suddenly began to paddle through the water as fast as a motorboat would.

"Ahh!" Neko cried out in surprise as she flew forward, wrapping herself tightly around the wood she had been standing on.

"Oh!" Kid did the same thing. "Wait Patty! Patty, Patty, Patty, Patty!" He was cut off when the boat slammed into the side of the ghostly ship, sending Kid flying forward to eat the splintering wood and smearing an obvious trail of blood down the side of it.

"You idiot!" Kid grumbled from his spot against the ship. "I told you to wait, didn't I?"

"He he, woopsie!" Patty giggled innocently.

"Patty…" Neko growled as she pulled herself over and back into the boat.

"If you want to do damage to the ship you have to hit them in the _middle_!" Kid turned and yelled, blood poured out of his nose.

"Ugh," Liz sighed with nausea. "You're mad 'cause she didn't hit the middle?"

Neko had been about to ask the same thing but, realizing what was most likely to happen next, she sat down in the boat and held on tightly.

"Now do it again!" Kid commanded Patty, wanting to again destroy his face in the perfect part of the ship.

"Okay!" Patty sat back down and grabbed the ore, "Row!" She picked the boat back up to horribly fast speeds and angled the boat just right, slamming it into the middle of the ship.

Kid's face again met the wood and slid down, leaving a bloody trail that looked like the last.

"Okay," Kid groaned in pain. "Let's board."

Patty laughed at what had just happened and Liz was still lying in her position from the original crash, allowing Neko time to stand up and make her way to the front of the rowboat.

"You kid's are absolutely _crazy_!" Liz wheezed. "Worse than crazy- you're insane, crazy jerks with a death wish!" She whined as she followed her sister in suit to the top of the ship.

"Oh no! I was so busy focusing on their insanity that I came on board- I gonna _die_!" Liz shrieked and began to sob.

Neko looked around the ship, _nobody's here?_

"From what I'm sensing, the souls are inside the ship somewhere," Kid ignored his whining weapon and began to walk across the ship. "In we go."

"Yeah," Patty followed him.

Liz whimpered as she walked behind Neko, her hands on her shoulders so that if anything were to jump out at her, the reaper could be her shield. "I have a better idea- how about we don't? There are ghosts hanging around in there, remember?" Her voice dropped several volumes until just Neko could hear her, "what if they eat us? Hey, guys, are you listening to me? Guys?"

Liz suddenly stopped walking and whimpered as she looked behind her.

"Lets go, Liz." Kid called to his weapon.

"Yeah, you're going to be fine- me and Kid won't allow anything to happen to you." Neko reassured her as she took hold of the older teen's wrist, not only to comfort her but also to make sure that she didn't run away.

Within a few steps down the oddly long hallway, Liz was crouched behind her younger sister, doing the same thing with Patty as she had done with Neko.

"They're just ahead," Kid informed Liz and Patty before opening the large, wooden, blue door.

It creaked open unwillingly and revealed hundreds of shining blue orbs.

"All these human souls… whatever someone has planned, it isn't good." Kid looked around the room at the many innocent souls.

Neko nodded in agreement, Kid had taken the words right out of her mouth.

"Can we take all these souls because they don't belong to anyone?" Patty asked innocently as she stared at the souls in question.

Neko instinctively moved herself closer to being in between Patty and the blue orbs.

"Idiot!" Kid growled. "Do you want to become a kishin?"

Kid didn't wait to hear Patty's answer and stepped deeper into the room, "as a protector of souls I can't allow this," He stopped when he had reached the middle of the dank room.

Kid raised his hand, bending his fingers so that the pointer and pinkie fingers were pointed up and the rest of the fingers were, while not touching the hand, bent down, the thumb barely draping the fingertips of the ring and middle finger.

"I have to safe-guard them." Kid calmly got ready to collect the souls when the sound of a gun cocking brought his attention down to a ghost like man, he was only half way out of the floor but still held a cannon-like gun, that was very real looking, at Kid's head.

"What do we have here?" The man's voice was high and raspy.

"Go help him," Liz whispered in Neko's ear as she continued to quake with fear.

But Neko made no move to do so, instead she shifted herself into a position that guarded Liz and Patty from the ghost and stood there, watching the scene as it continued to unfold.

"You're a grim reaper?" The man looked at Kid.

* * *

><p><em>REMINDER: Remember to vote! The button is right beneath me!<em>


	22. The Soul Eating Black Dragon Part 2

_The votes are in! Stein: 4, Death: 2. She's with the group! _

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><p><strong>Chapter 22: The Soul Eating Black Dragon; Part 2 (using weapons?)<strong>

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><p>Kid looked down at the person in shock before the cannon fired at him, Kid jumped swiftly backwards and to the right, the cannon shell only blowing a hole through the cloak that Kid was wearing.<p>

The man in the floor turned around and smiled insanely, as if thinking of the whole thing as just a game.

"Liz, Patty," Kid ordered, knowing that this person was a threat more than anything else on the ship that they currently knew about.

"Yeah, okay." They answered, getting ready to transform.

The man in front of the group chuckled loudly before screaming, "Nedhogg!" The call echoed back before a loud crack added to the sound in the room and Liz suddenly disappeared into a hole in the floor with a surprised scream.

"Liz, wait!" Kid yelled to her as if she had a choice.

The floor closed back up with another snap and Patty bent next to it and pounded the wood. "She fell, she fell!" She giggled insanely.

"She's your sister! How could you be laughing like that?" Kid yelled at her.

The man that had first appeared and shot at Kid now laughed at their reaction, "This ship is my body and my body is this ship." He explained proudly as he raised himself out of the floor, only to float in mid-air.

He laughed again before adding, "all I have to do is digest the little lady."

Neko quietly positioned herself in front of Patty and grabbed onto her wrist, blocking any chance of the man shooting the young girl or letting her fall the same way as her sister.

Kid stepped forward and confronted the man causing all the trouble, "are you an evil spirit? What are you planning to do with all these human souls you've gathered?"

"The meddlesome Lord Death is making things more difficult than ever before. That's why I'm going to present these souls to the Kishen!" The man exclaimed. "I'll certainly be rewarded for that!"

Kid and Neko tensed up at the thought of a kishen being alive in the world.

"Kishen?" Kid questioned. "You mean the sword of Ragnarok?"

The ghostly man laughed at this, "That rookie doesn't have anything to do with this!" He paused and looked at the two reapers before continuing, "I'm talking about the kishen that's right next to you." He smiled sinisterly. "_That's_ who I gathered these souls for."

Neko tensed up even more and stepped closer to Patty, and even though not knowing what to expect next, she was firmly ready to protect the girl at all costs.

"What's that? What do you mean, '_next to us_'?"

The obviously insane man laughed again, finding something funny in the questions the reaper was asking, "It's nothing a child like _you_ would understand, this ship and I have things to do- people to see; we're going places together, me and this ship, somewhere at sea far away- people are waiting to hear the song of the Kishen!"

The man paused before continuing, "most people are alike, they all crave power and one form or another, but for some- no amount of earthly power will be enough to satisfy; They always hunger for more!"

The man grabbed a soul and licked it tenderly, "it's humans like these that were seeking the Kishen, and these souls that you see here are my own offering to it. And not for you boy!" The man aimed the cannon-like gun at Kid again and fired.

Kid dodged to the right.

Another shot was fired.

Kid dodged to the left.

Yet another shot.

Kid jumped swiftly into the air, landing back next to Neko and Patty, his cloak completely gone from him and lying in shreds on the floor.

"Kid, I'm gonna transform now," Patty was now completely serious.

Neko released her wrist to give the girl room to do so.

"No!" Kid ordered. "I can't."

"Neko, can you take Patty?" Neko knew that if Kid even carried her that he would break down.

"She doesn't fight with a weapon, besides- I can walk." Patty interrupted.

"No, it would be better if I carried you. It would be safer at least." Neko nodded and held out her hand.

"Okay." Patty nodded back before expertly transforming in mid-air and allowing herself to be caught gently but strongly by Neko.

"Run, run…" The man chuckled before firing the gun again.

"Come on!" Neko commanded Kid as she turned on her heels and grabbed his hand, she pointed the gun and fired it at the door, causing it to explode into splinters.

Kid and Neko were out of the room before the wood particles had even hit the ground.

The man laughed as if playing a game as he fired the gun repeatedly at the couple as they raced down the hall.

"I thought you said you couldn't fight with a weapon!" Kid ran as fast as he could.

"I never said I _couldn't_ I just said that I hate it." Neko panted, "it makes me feel constricted and like I don't have as much freedom to do stuff."

"Oh!" Kid nodded, still sprinting through the ship.

"Running away won't do any good!" The man called out, the gunfire disappearing.

A gunshot suddenly cut just in front of them, making them skid to a stop.

The man was hanging in the ceiling ahead of them.

"Dang!" Neko acted as if she was aiming the gun and then swung her foot around in a high round-house kick, a bolt of purple lightning flashing from the tip of her brown dress shoes and leaving a smoldering black hole where the man had been.

"What's the matter kids? Shouldn't the grim reaper have more power than _this_?" He floated out of a spot in the wall.

"You haven't seen what I can do yet!" Kid snapped.

"Than why not show me something? Are you frightened reaper children?" The man taunted. "I worship the Kishen- your sworn enemy, and I steal the souls of innocent people. This is the perfect chance to pass judgment on what you call evil."

"I do not deny evil, nor do I believe that any human is completely free of malice." Kid calmly stated. "Everything must be in balance, as long as evil and good maintain equilibrium in this world there is no problem. Perfect balance is the key to everything."

The kishen- worshiper gritted his teeth before yelling at the two reapers, "who cares about the ideals of some stupid kid? You think for one second all humans feel the same way you do?"

"I don't care if they do or not!" Kid ground his teeth together as he argued with the murderous man. "I'm going to keep fighting until this world is the way it should be! Until the world is balanced."

The man growled with anger as he cocked his gun and aimed it at the reaper children again, "Really? Even if that means taking away freedom?"

"You disgust me!" Kid's lip curled with annoyance and anger at the persons remarks. "I am a grim reaper; I refuse to grant anyone the freedom to kill."

"And your say in this, little lady?" The man aimed the gun at Neko, Neko's grip tightened around Patty.

"The world should be balanced, but it never will be." Neko looked at the man who floated upside-down in front of her. "It's like a teeter-totter; sometimes there's too much evil, sometimes there's… there's too much good. We're here to make sure that one side doesn't get to much more powerful than the other- to keep the balance as much as possible."

"And who decides who's good?" The man sneered, expecting the same answer he always got- no matter who he asked; _there is no decision- WE are the good side._

"Nobody." Neko said flatly. "It's the side _you_ pick, do you think that the kishens are doing the best thing for the world, or Lord Death? There is no _good_ or _bad_, there's only your opinion."

"Is that so?" The man laughed, that had been the best answer to that question he'd ever gotten.

"Yes, and that's what we're here for; to make sure that one opinion doesn't override the other." Neko frowned.

"You're an interesting one, you are." The man chuckled. "To bad I need to kill you." He fired the gun, Neko dodging out of the way at the last second.

"Come on!" Neko grabbed Kid's arm and jumped up, braking roughly through the wood and into the air above the deck of the ship.

"Go Patty!" Neko threw her up as she nearly reached the peak of her jump.

At almost the same time, all three of them spotted Liz, who was sobbing as she hung onto the frame of a doorway.

"Oh, hi sis!" Patty smiled as she flew through the air before landing easily between Kid and Neko.

"Hey there Liz!" Kid stamped his foot. "Nice of you to show up! You idiot- because of you I couldn't use Patty! You know that?"

Neko smacked that back of his head, making him stop his rant immediately. "Shut up, it wasn't her fault. Leave her alone- it shouldn't be this big of a deal, I took care of everything, didn't I?"

Kid's silence confirmed his answer.

"You're back!" Patty smiled and opened her arms wide to welcome her sister back to the group.

"Patty! I missed you _so much_!" Liz took a step toward the group but stopped when she heard something behind her.

"You aren't going to get away!" The man floated out of the floor, his cannon-gun slung over his shoulder.

"Finally!" Kid looked at the murderous kishen worshiper that he could finally fight. "Now that we're all back together, we can take care of business. Liz, Patty, time to transform. Let's go."

"'Kay!" Patty answered louder then was necessary.

"Yeah, okay." Liz whimpered.

They shifted into weapon form at the same time, flying into the air and swirling around each other in glowing pink lights.

Neko fell into a fighting stance at the same time Kid caught the guns expertly and leaned back, pointing the barrels of the pistols at the man on the ships balcony.

"Time to die." Kid muttered.

The man laughed insanely but didn't even have time to remove his own gun from its resting place on his shoulders before a random, jet black, object split through the sail, landing just in front of the man shortly after severing the top of his head from his jaw and the rest of his body.

"What is that?" Kid squinted at the scene above.

A thin figure wandered shyly up from behind the still floating carcass of the evil man, the boy was sickly pale and had dull pink hair, his black robe stayed put as he weakly took the handle of the long, broad sword and yanked it from the ships floor.

"The sword!" Kid growled at the realization that the sword of Ragnarok was now on ship.

Neko didn't seem to notice the sword, she noticed the boy, _that's the boy that was attacking Maka._ She inclined her head and continued to watch the boy in his efforts to handle the metal weapon.

He swung the sword with a yelp of effort and sliced the man's body in half, exposing the red soul.

The weight of the sword seem to be too much for the boy though, as he leaned backwards until the sword touched the floor behind him, at that moment he threw his upper body forward and brought the sword down in front of his feet.

"Ragnarok," his quiet voice was barely detectable; a red, slobbery mouth emerged on the sword. "Scream resonance."

An ear piercing scream suddenly fill the air, bringing a shocking sensation of not being able to breathe to everyone on board.

The boy also began to scream and slowly a blue glow began to grow through the floor, dull at first but growing brighter with each second the pair on the balcony screamed.

The blue souls began to emerge onto the deck until they all floated there, calming and quiet.

"The souls are coming out now." Kid whispered to himself.

_This can't be good. In absolutely _no_ way can this be anything good._ Neko frowned, knowing that she couldn't do anything.

The boy lifted the sword into the air with another scream and suddenly the blue orbs zoomed at Ragnarok.

They filled it's mouth so much that the person beneath it was having a hard time keeping their balance, quickly the souls were gone- no trace of them to be found.

The boy walked up to the edge of the balcony and looked down at Kid and Neko.

"This can't be possible!" Kid stared in angry shock at him. "He devoured all the human souls."

The boy stared down at them coolly for another second before doubling over in obviously extreme pain, the sword disappeared at the same time a large explosion of black liquid came from the screaming person's hunched back. It formed into a buffed black figure with white eyes, X's marking them.

"I think we're looking at the demon sword's true form!" Kid spoke quietly to Neko before the weapon shifted again, this time into a dragon.

"Hey," the boy now addressed them. "My blood's black, you know."

The demon sword shifted from its dragon-like image and back into a strong, sharp sword, leaving the boy with a pair of large black wings sprouting from his shoulders.

Kid hardened his heart against the fact that the demon sword's miester was the same age as him. "I judge you."

His feet suddenly shifted, the clean black shoes squeaking against the floor boards as he angled himself into a reaper martial arts stance. "Reaper combat art; Mortal Sin." He stated.

Neko drew herself up onto the balls of her feet and then drew the foot in front of her up- placing it just above the knee of the other leg. She shifted her hands so that the thumb, index, and middle fingers were pointed out, while the others were tucked against the palm of her hand. She put the elbow of her right arm on top of the wrist of her left arm so that her left hand- still pointed- aimed at the right, while her right hand pointed up. "Electric form; Punishment."

"Prepare yourself." Neko warned.

"You're about to die!" Kid exclaimed.

The boy simply stared at them, the grip on his sword tightened.


	23. Fierce Battle aboard the Ghost Ship

**Chapter 23: Fierce Battle aboard the Ghost Ship (Ragnarok; The Demon Sword?)**

* * *

><p>"I'm scared… of everyone." The pink haired boy informed them quietly, staring at his shoes as he did so. "I need to learn to deal with people better… but to do that I need power."<p>

"Do you want to know where the real Hell is hiding?" The black wings that protruded from his shoulders raised to an almost vertical position.

Neko watched him carefully, not sure of what the boy would do.

The miester tapped the side of his head, "It's inside your head." He stared at them with a despite seriousness.

Kid and Neko held their positions of attack and stared up at the boy in quiet observation.

"If you get in my way I'll have to kill you, you know?" The awkward teen's threat sounded more like an unwanted warning that he had to give.

"Will you?" Kid spoke back. "Just try it." He cocked his pistols before disappearing in a flash, the only thing that showed where he had been originally standing was a swirl of up-risen dust.

Neko stayed in her original spot and lowered herself out of her attack stance, deciding to wait to fight until Kid needed help.

Kid reappeared suddenly on the balcony, he swiped the pink-haired boy's thin legs out from under him.

The boy was knocked off of his feet in a startled yelp before Kid jammed one of the pistols into the enemies spine and fired.

The boy yelped again.

Kid muttered something to the girl that Neko couldn't make out before stepping back and firing rapidly at the target above.

"That's your _genius_ plan for getting rid of all your fear?" Neko heard Kid yell over the gun shots. "You disgust me!"

The boy continued to scream with every gunshot and writhe in pain in midair.

Kid stopped firing, "if what you really want is to be free from fear…" Kid launched himself into the air before the boy could start his decent down and straddled himself across the other teen's chest. His legs dangled over the boy's shoulders as he drove the pistols deep into his cheeks, "then strengthen your soul."

As he fired the wavelength bullets into the boy's face, sending him crashing into the floor of the ship, Kid jumped gracefully off of him and landed symmetrically not too far away from the hole. "Always balance good and evil." He spoke at just the right volume so that Neko could hear him.

"Did we get him?" Liz yelled out to her miester.

Everyone looked at the hole in the ship.

There was a loud scream as a blade cut the wood around Kid and the boy flew out of the hole, the black wings flapping lightly.

"What! My attacks didn't stop that thing?" Kid stared at the flying boy.

"Oh well, I shouldn't expect _you_ to understand me." The boy spoke to Kid before looking at the teenager on the lower floor.

"I shouldn't be surprised- not even the little one can understand me." He stared sadly at Neko. "If the little one can't understand my feelings… there's no way a reaper like _you_ could understand them."

Neko frowned as she looked at the pitiful boy. "I'm not armed, come down here- I only want to talk."

"But your hands- your feet- you can electrocute me. That doesn't require a weapon." The boy said in a depressing tone.

"Very true, but I have absolutely _no_ intensions of attacking you. Really, I only want to talk." Neko tried to reassure him by sticking her hands in the pockets of her pants.

"No. I don't know how to deal with that." The boy frowned.

Kid watched this whole interaction as Neko's past word's echoed in his head; _Who's good? It's the side you pick; do you think that the kishen are doing the best thing for the world, or Lord Death? There is no good or bad, there's only your opinion. How could she say something like that? Of course my father is on the side who's right- why would she say that he isn't? Is Neko working for my father? Or someone else? Who were her parents?_ Kid's mind kept coming back to this question even as he thought about Neko's opinions on good and evil. The question kept echoing in his head until a voice, different from Neko or the pink-haired meister, aroused his mind back to the present.

"Hey! I'll get you!" Half of the head from the ghost pirate bounced around.

"What? _He's_ still alive?" Kid looked at the head.

"Oh, no." The boy also watched as multiple cannons turned by nobody's hand and zoned in on him and the reapers he had been talking to.

"This ship's my body and my body's this ship; as long as the Nedhogg stays afloat I'll _never_ die." The head spoke to the three teens as it hopped onto the top of one of the cannons. "You fools- you ate every soul I collected; you had no honor! You've got zero respect for other people's property. Let me teach you about honor! Let's see how you'd like a little taste of my cannons!"

He hopped onto a wooden post that was nailed to the floor beside the cannons, "fire!"

The cannons fired, all aimed on Kid and Neko.

Neko sent out an electric wall which caused the cannons to explode on contact but not harm her or the depressed boy.

Kid was lost from sight, the black smoke covering everything.

"Ha, ha, ha… huh?" The man stared in shock as Kid walked easily out of the smoke, only a few scratches- which quickly disappeared- covering his face.

"How can you still be alive?" The man shouted.

"Dang, you are annoying!" Kid growled the head.

"What?" Neko and Kid turned at the same time to see a large red orb surrounding the boy and his sword, obviously from a soul renascence.

"The demon sword's wavelength seems to be _swelling_!" Kid stared in horror and disbelief.

"I hate- hate- hate- hate everyone!" The boy swung the sword back and forth. "But that's alright- I can use my screams to blow them all away. I bet dead people are a lot easier to get along with." He clutched the sword harder.

The sword began to scream and, as always, the boy matched it soon after.

He begun to spin, faster and faster, but stopped on a dime and, pointing the sword at the ship, yelled out a command, "Scream Alpha!"

A black line cut down the middle of the ship, a small puff of dust emerged from the crack.

_Whoa._ Neko looked at the crack for a second before running as fast as she could, dissipating like Kid because of it, and jumping over the crack and onto the balcony as soon as she could.

Everything was quiet as Neko and Kid stood, holding hands, not knowing for the most part what would happen next.

The sword shrieked again, an explosion of black mass emerging from the thin crack and causing the ship to break in half and turn up into an almost vertical position.

"That sword is strong!" Kid held onto the thick mast, grasping onto Neko's wrist with everything he had, convinced that he wouldn't let her fall into the salty water and splintering wood.

The masts began to snap and crash against each other. "This ship isn't going to hold much longer."

"Hey Kid, the demon sword!" Liz warned him.

"What now?" Kid turned to see the boy was flying overhead on his way out. "It's over now, little reapers."

Neko gritted her teeth as the power between Kid's grip and her dangling weight threatened to pull her shoulder out of it's socket.

"Kid, let go!" Neko ordered.

"You might drown." Kid stared down at her and saw the determination and plan deep in her eyes, he held on for a second longer before letting her go.

Neko fell down until her feet hit the steep angled floor of the sinking ship. She launched herself off of this and, using her technique of finding electricity in everything, made it possible for her to stand on the water, current or no current she stood still, waiting for Kid to figure out his own way down.

Kid watched the boy continue to get farther and farther away and decided to summon his skateboard.

He jumped on it and burst out of the wreckage, Neko running close behind.

"I have to stop the kishen!" Kid watched the boy continue to flap his wings.

Kid fired his guns at the monster and it's miester, hitting the boy in the chest a few times.

The chase continued.

"Give it up!" Kid yelled to the pair.

The mist began to quickly disperse. "The fog is lifting, I can almost see the sun again. I guess the ghost ship was causing the fog the whole time." Kid looked at the sun and instantly stopped.

Neko sped past him but also stopped when she saw that Kid was heading completely away from the chase. _What's he doing?_ She ran after him, "Kid, Kid, stop!"

"Just look at it Liz, Patty, just look at how the clouds are!" Neko could hear Kid talking and couldn't get his voice's tone out of his head. _He sounds like he's high!_ Neko took this time to catch up to him. She stood next to him and looked up at the sky, her face fell- it was perfectly symmetrical.

"Look at it Neko, it's so beautiful!" He held out his arms to it. "This is truly _amazing_! Oh, how I love you _Symmetry_!" As he said the last word he sped off towards the sun, laughing with absolute happiness.

Neko summoned a camera with her hand and took a picture, just high enough that Kid wasn't in the sky picture, and allowed the camera to disappear back into her hand before she ran after Kid, catching up with and running alongside him.

"Symmetry- it's so invigorating! Oh sun, oh clouds, _I love you_!" He seemed to Neko like he really was high, _maybe the statement "high from happiness" is actually true._

"Hey Kid, snap out of it-" Liz yelled to him. "What about the demon sword?"

Kid turned to see the monster had already gotten too far away to catch, "I forgot, did it get away?"

"Yeah, you let it escape!" Liz yelled.

Kid suddenly turned back to the sun and began laughing again. "Can you not understand the perfection of this moment?" Kid laughed as he launched his skateboard into a high jump.

* * *

><p>Neko had finally gotten Kid to stop acting like an idiot and go back home with her after telling him that she got a picture of the scene… when that didn't work she threatened to throw the camera in the water- ruining the photo.<p>

* * *

><p>Kid landed his skateboard outside the school, Neko unwrapped her arms from around his waist, feeling a reluctance to do so- whether it was stiff muscles or what, she didn't know.<p>

Kid tossed Liz and Patty over his shoulders and waited for them to land and transform. Once he had heard them do so he gave his orders. "Liz, Patty, go back to the mansion and wait for me and Neko there." Kid glared at the school. "We need to talk to my father."

During the ride home Kid and Neko had quietly, enough so that Liz and Patty couldn't hear, discussed the day and threw the comment about "_the Kishen that's right next to us"_ around- the more they had done so the more confused and worried they had become. They had finally decided to try to get answers out of Lord Death.

Kid and Neko walked down the hall to the Death Room without a word, while climbing the stairs to the top of the stage Death must have heard their shoes because neither Kid nor Neko gave out any friendly greetings to him.

They were strictly here for answers- nothing more.

"Well, well, hey-ya!" Lord Death turned around and looked at the two teens that had just gotten back from their mission. "Long time, no see Kiddo's."

"Look, I-" Kid started.

Lord Death held out a giant white hand, signaling for him to be quiet. "I hear you ran into the demon sword." He would have continued but saw that neither teen wanted to chat about anything.

"Father," Neko looked up at him as Kid spoke. "I have something to ask you."

"Oh?" Lord Death waited for his son's question but as he read the children's growing nervousness he tried to encourage Kid to talk. "What's eating you Kid?" _Ask me anything, you're my child. Don't be afraid to ask questions, I tell you almost anything- anything at all._ Lord Death thought as he waited for his son to talk.

"I may be a reaper but I'm still young. I understand that." Kid refused to meet his father's eyes.

"But still, there is _too_ much I _don't know_." Kid looked like two opposite feelings were growing inside of him at the same time; nausea from nervousness and confidence. "Someone mentioned "_the Kishin who is right next to us_". What does that mean, father?"

_I will answer anything! I will- _his thoughts stopped when he heard what Kid was asking. _I will answer almost any question… not that one. That one falls under almost._

Lord Death began to feel something he hadn't felt in awhile; like he was being cornered- fear was growing from the pit of his stomach, causing his forehead to break out into a cold sweat under his mask.

"People and gods alike possess weaknesses. In order to bury those failures- they seek strength and power. _Fear_ and _Desire_ are two separate sides of the same coin." Lord Death answered the teens, _I'm not lying- I'm correct in every sense of the question… but still… should they really know?_

Neko frowned at Lord Death as Kid spoke again, this time he looked at his father's mask straight on.

"No, father. You're avoiding my question, that's not what I'm asking you." Kid and Neko stared at him.

""_The Kishen who is _right next_ to us."_ I want you to explain that phrase to Kid and I…" Neko jumped into the conversation.

Kid paused and looked at the floor in thought, "does it have something to do with why you can't leave the academy?" Kid's head whipped up and looked at him. "We _need _to know, father. Tell us what it means."


	24. The Eve Party Nightmare

**Chapter 24: The Eve Party Nightmare (Curtain Call?)**

* * *

><p>"Neko are you almost ready to go?" Kid knocked gently on the door of his friend's room.<p>

As he stood outside Neko's door, he still couldn't believe how easy it had been to ask her to go with him.

* * *

><p>It was after the battle with Ragnarok, after Kid and Neko had received the shocking news about the Kishen sleeping underneath the DWMA, and everyone had decided to relax, as much as they could, for the rest of the night.<p>

"Hey, Neko?" Kid walked out of the kitchen and across the large room to a pair of couches, one of which, was occupied by a 15-year-old girl reading a Stephen King novel.

Neko glanced up, looked back down at her book while setting it in her lap, and looked back up at Kid. "Yeah?"

"Would you…" Kid nervously glanced behind him to see Liz and Patty giving him eager and supporting thumbs up. "Would you… like to go to the dance…" he swallowed hard, "with me?"

Neko smile and, however tired she looked while doing it, he knew that it was genuine. "Sure."

Kid nodded. "O-okay." His voice was higher than desired as he replied before turning around and walking back into the kitchen to get several back pats and happy remarks.

* * *

><p>"Yeah, hang on." Neko called out before footsteps could be heard approaching the door.<p>

Kid jumped away from the wooden object, not wanting to seem creepy for being so close it.

His heart was in butterflies, his chest was constricted, he had asked Neko to go to the dance _with_ him… as a couple. Neko had seemed pleased to get the invitation from him but what difference did that make? _Neko's happy with everything- she could even be lying, just because she doesn't want to hurt my feelings._ Kid stopped breathing as he heard the door click open to show what his date was dressed up in.

Neko wore a strapped black dress that cut off at the knees, the skirt was folded and ironed so that it swayed and fanned with every movement she made. The upper part of the dress was white; the black was in the form of a mesh-like lace, tracing patterns of skulls in it as solid black. The line separating the two parts of the dress was a silky black ribbon that fit just under her breast-plate, tying into a beautiful, and symmetrical, bow in back.

"Wow." Kid could only get one word out and even that word barely broke into the classification of a whisper.

Neko smiled at him shyly, "you look good too."

"Hey, come on love-ducks!" Patty yelled.

Neko sighed; Liz had called them love-birds at some time last night because the sisters had seen them walking home together while holding hands. Patty had begun to argue that _birds_ weren't specific enough and that since ducks were so cute and funny- that's what it should be.

So… they were now love-_ducks_.

"Yeah, we're coming." Kid called down to his weapons before turning back and giving a nervous smile to his date.

* * *

><p>Neko saw Maka's purple dress as the girl chatted with Soul, Black Star, and Tsubaki, at the same time Patty did.<p>

"Over here, guys!" Patty yelled at the group.

"Hey, take a look at these- they're dressed up all fancy-pants!" Liz spoke.

Kid was looking down at the floor, a thoughtful but disturbed expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Kid? You don't seem very excited." Maka addressed the teen.

Kid's thoughts were severed and he looked up to plaster on a fake smile for his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kid felt his smile trying to fade back into a frown; he wrestled with it as he tried to get his muscles to cooperate.

"I'm so hungry." Black Star interjected.

Kid and Neko turned to greet them but felt their shock levels go up.

Just as Neko opened her mouth to comment on how sloppy Black Star looked, one side of his jacket slipped off his shoulder.

"Ahh!" Kid whimpered at this as he tried to keep his OCD in control. "Gentlemanly," was the only word he could groan out.

"Anyway, everybody thank you so much for coming," Kid swept his arm in a gesture towards the inside of the building. "Tonight we celebrate the founding of the DWMA."

Kid and Neko walked until they were just inside the building, the rest of the kids followed.

"Please, come inside. My father will be giving his greeting shortly." Kid smiled and held his arm out, motioning for them to go enjoy the party.

As the four kids passed him, his arm bent back until he was holding it up but not doing anything with it, he felt himself thinking for the, what felt like the millionth time; _Can what father told me _actually_ be true? Something like _that _exists here?_ Kid looked around until he found Neko, smiling and walking around, making sure everyone was happy (which she seemed to be doing quite efficiently without talking). _How can she accept something like this? She doesn't seem fazed by it at all._ As Kid was thinking this he shuffled his feet onto the stage, where his father had told him to be when the party started.

As he stood there he became aware that someone was standing next to him. He dazedly looked over and saw Neko, calmly and reassuringly standing by him.

"Hello!" Lord Death bounced and spoke to the children around the hall, Kid and Neko watched him politely.

"Hey! Hiya! Thanks for coming! Great to see you!" Lord Death waved his hand.

The large room was filled with the sound of clapping as the teens applauded Lord Death's arrival.

"Okay, well… that's about all I have to say. Have a great time tonight!" Lord Death announced.

Neko sighed, her father had always told her that his friend, Lord Death, had loved crowds but was never one for speeches. She now saw what he had meant.

Kid looked sick and disappointed. _Father isn't taking this seriously._ He decided to take matters into his own hands and cleared his throat.

"All, if I may speak as well. Thank you for taking the time to come here. Tonight at this party we celebrate something dear to all of our hearts; the founding of our academy. If you will kindly indulge me, I, Death the Kid, would like to say a few words about this foundation."

Neko was about to walk forward and pull Kid off the stage but as she took the first step forward a familiar voice rang out above her.

"Yahoo!" Black Star swung from the curtains above the stage. "Yahoo! Yahoo! Yahoo! It's me- in all my glory! The one and only amazing Black Star! Yeah!"

Kid stopped talking and glared up at the boy before continuing, "of course this is thanks to-"

"Hear me people, it's me with a capital 'M'. I'm the only one big enough to capitalize me!" Black Star yelled.

"_Anyway,_" Kid gritted his teeth, "as I was saying."

Black Star laughed loudly, interrupting Kid once more.

"Disgusting!" Kid jumped up and kicked Black Star off of the curtains.

"What do you think you're doing?" Black star yelled out as the two boys brawled on the stage.

Neko walked over and stood by Lord Death.

"You sure know how to pick 'em." Lord Death spoke quietly to her.

Neko knew he was talking about her love for Kid, who was currently taking a punch to the face, and replied in a slightly sarcastic and humorous tone; "yeah, it's working out well."

"You're horrible!" Kid yelled out, "I wanted my speech to be precise and exact but…" Kid fell to his hands and knees. "It's ruined… I want to die."

Neko walked over to try to cheer up Kid, the entire room was now quiet after watching this spectacle.

"Well, is this a party or isn't it? There's a band and lots of food! So eat, sit, sing, dance the holky-polky! Whatever you're in the mood for!"

Kids all over the room cheered at this.

Soon after this suggestion from Lord Death, the band was in full swing.

"Kick your legs up to a 90 degree angle!" Kid commanded Liz and Patty.

Maka giggled and watched them until she saw something and wandered off.

Neko stepped forward to take her place and, after seeing how miserable Liz and Patty were getting, stepped in and grabbed Kid, pulling him into the corner.

"You okay?" Neko was checking up to make sure he wasn't feeling too depressed.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Kid watched Neko as he heard one song end and lead into a slower song. "Um… do you want to… dance?" Kid suddenly asked Neko, figuring it was the right thing to do since they were at a dance.

Neko smiled at his request and nodded her head.

Kid gently took her hand and placed his free hand on her waist.

Neko did the same.

"So, I wanted to ask you something." Kid looked at Neko's blue and grey eyes.

"Yeah?" Neko could sense that something had been troubling him- and it wasn't the news about the Kishen.

"What you said yesterday, about there being no good or bad, what did you mean?" Kid frowned.

"I meant that exactly that- there is no good or bad. It's all opinion." Neko shrugged as they continued to shuffle around.

"Does that mean that you don't think the Kishen is bad?" Kid stared at her with worry.

"No. I fight for what I think is making the best decision for humanity at that time- so far, it's been Lord Death and my father. But I want you to think about something, if you had been born a witch, would you think that Lord Death was good or bad?"

"I… um…" Kid put himself in their position. "I would think that he's bad, because he's trying to destroy us."

"Exactly! But from this perspective, witches are evil." Neko nodded. "But right now, I agree with you, the witches are in the wrong because they're trying to do something that will harm humanity."

"Okay." Kid felt more at ease, knowing that the girl he loved wasn't becoming evil.

They continued their dance and Kid spun and dipped her before they continued their simple circular path shuffling.

There was nothing special about their dance, the people on the dance floor didn't part in half and make a circle around them so they had room to dance.

There were no crowds whispering and smiling at how cute they looked together.

In fact, only one person out of the entire room even noticed them swaying back and forth in a small circle, smiling at each other as they shuffled around in the corner, whispering quietly to one another.

"Ah, Spirit, I must say, I was doubtful at first about if Neko and my son would get along, but this," Lord Death watched them dance. "This is more then I allowed myself to expect. They look so nice, they…" Lord Death turned to look at his weapon and saw that he wasn't there.

Lord Death almost blushed as he realized that he had basically been talking to himself.

He glanced at the teen couple in the corner again before scanning the room for his death scythe.

He found Spirit, who seemed to be dancing with a less than enthusiastic Maka Albarn.

Lord Death eventually looked away from the pair in order to give them privacy, as it didn't look like the father-daughter dance was going, in any way at all, well.

Lord Death had turned back to watch his son and his best friend's daughter again when a sudden and urgent shout came to the room.

"Stein! Hurry! Everyone get out of here immediately!" Sid was collapsed in the doorway, clutching his shoulder in pain.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the zombie professor.

"Are you okay?" Stein ran over to him at the same time as Kid, Maka, Black Star, and all of their assorted weapons, Spirit also ran up to them.

Neko ran onto the stage and stood by Lord Death.

"Y-yeah, but I'm not sure how." Sid groaned.

Stein crouched next to him, ready to help him if his hands and knees gave out.

"We ran into an ambush." Sid informed. "I dove underground right before the blast, but I barely got away." He picked himself up until he was standing on his knees.

"What we need to do now is get everyone out of here. It's a trap, this is the day they've been waiting for; when Lord Death leaves his mirror and all of the students and teachers are in one place!" Sid explained to Stein.

Stein jumped up in a blast of energy, "Medusa!"

By the time he had yelled this Medusa was already outside, she used a front-hand spring to launch herself over and off the stone balcony.

The tower they were in began to rumble, "wha-what is this?" Stein looked around, searching for the source of the trembling.

"It's starting now! Nygus! You ready? We need soul resonance." Sid tore his knife from its sheath and held it in front of him. "We have to get these guys out of here."

As the knife began to glow Sid growled, "This is going to be close."

"Compulsive burial!" He stabbed the knife into the ground, multiple holes opened up, sending all the people that had gathered around him falling into the coffin like craters.

Neko took a running start and launched herself into the air, flipping frontwards elegantly and landing through the hole that Kid had just fallen into.

"Thanks Sid!" Neko called out as she fell down the hole. "Take care!"

"We're counting on you, to protect the DWMA." Sid's voice, however weak it was, could be heard by both Neko and Stein.

Neko fell in silence, allowing the wind to rush past her; she stared down and saw the floor, rushing up at her.

Neko landed on the floor in a crouch, directly behind Kid, she had gotten there just in time to hear Soul grumbling to himself as he stood up.

"The miesters landed on their feet and the weapons didn't. I guess we really are different."

Kid was staring into space, "I'm sensing some witch souls up there, one… two… eight of them!" Kid whispered. "And the demon sword also."

"They've really gotten us this time." Neko muttered as she stood up and placed herself beside Kid.

There was an explosion as all of them flinched with worry of the brightly lit hallway caving in on them.

"What was that? What are they doing up there?" Maka turned and looked at nobody in specific.

"The witches are most likely attacking us while the school has no way to defend itself." Neko informed.

Tsubaki, Soul, and Maka all looked at her in slight shock- only Kid, his weapons, Black Star, and Stein had ever heard her talk out of the group she was in.

"Yeah, yeah, I know- I can talk. Surprise." Neko was getting annoyed with the fact that she got the same reaction whenever she spoke around people that hadn't heard her do so before.

"Listen up kids," Stein stepped into the group. "We've got an emergency on our hands."

All of the teens focused on him.

"Below the DWMA sleeps a Kishen. The source of all madness in the world." Stein continued, "You should know our school nurse, Medusa, is a witch. She snuck into the academy to revive the Kishen. We _must_ stop this at all costs."

"Doctor Medusa is actually a witch, Professor? That's crazy!" Maka expressed in a worried tone.

"And this _Kishen_ too?" Soul expressed fear as well. "How's something like _that_ beneath the school?"

"It's true," Kid spoke up. "My father explained _everything_ to me." He paused and stared at the floor, deliberating if he should share information or not. "In order to keep the Kishen sleeping safe and sound, my father cannot ever leave the academy."

"Huh? So there's a reason Lord Death never goes anywhere? I always thought that he was just not much of a people person." Black Star seemed surprised.

"We can discuss Lord Death's social life later; right now we need to focus on keeping Asura locked up." Neko didn't want a huge argument bursting out about Kid's father.

"Let's get moving. We can't let Sid's quick thinking go to waste." Stein also stepped in. "All of you follow me, I'll take us to the entrance that leads underground."

The group of miesters, weapons, and reapers took off down the hall, following numerous twists and turns as they ventured deeper into the school.

Slowly they walked down a dark hallway; statues were set up, one on either side of a pitch-black doorway at the end of it.

"This is the entrance we need." Stein studied it. "Our enemy is powerful, if you aren't prepared for what lies ahead, than you may die. If you want to turn around- do it now." He slowly lit a cigarette before turning around to look at the children.

"Are you ready to fight against fear itself? 'Cause when you cross beyond that door, let your souls make that decision for you."

Everyone changed into their normal clothes, mostly packed in small bags that had been hidden on their person.

Kid was able to make his, Liz's, and Patty's outfits appear out of his hand.

Neko did the same with her clothing.

"Neko, you're not wearing your normal outfit." Tsubaki looked at the girl, who was normally seen wearing a plaid blouse with black dress pants and brown dress shoes.

The girl standing before them was dressed in a black, long sleeve, button down, dress shirt, black dress pants, black boots- that somehow still looked formal, and a black and purple striped tie which had thin chains dangling on the bottom.

"It will be." Neko smiled, something in the way her lips were formed to make the smile told everyone that she was dead serious about it.

Once everybody was dressed they all turned and looked at their teacher.

"We're coming." Maka's voice was strong.

"Good." Stein smiled.


	25. Underground Battle Commences

**Chapter 25: The Underground Battle Commences (Electricity and Arrows?)**

* * *

><p>The group charged through the doorway and was immediately faced with a seemingly never-ending staircase. Kid took out his skate-board and rode down while the others ran beside him.<p>

"Hey, Kid!" Maka called out to the reaper. "How did Lord Death seal away this Asura guy in the first place?"

Kid explained without turning around, "My father tore off Asura's skin, made a tightly sewn bag out of it, and stuffed Asura inside. Then he rooted his own body and soul here at Death City to keep the Kishen from ever breaking free."

"And it's 'cause of that Lord Death can never leave the city?" Black Star asked.

"What if the seal was broken? And the Kishen managed to get free?" Maka also asked a question. "Would Lord Death be able to go wherever he wanted?"

"That wouldn't work- Lord Death has attached his soul to this town. I suppose you could even say he's become _one_ with Death City." Stein called back to the teens running behind him.

"So it's like he's trapped inside himself." Maka carried the conversation out.

"If he wanted to go somewhere, he'd have to find a way of giving the city _legs_. I don't really see that happening any time soon, do you?" Stein responded. "You can't even imagine how disastrous things would be if the Kishen is revived… it's madness is like a plague."

Everyone went quiet, the sound of skateboard wheels and shoes slapping against stairs filled the talking.

They continued to run into a long, more lit, hall way.

"We've run a pretty long way now." Black Star observed. "Hey, Maka, can you sense any witches up ahead with that little gift of yours?"

"Their soul protects are probably on right now." Maka informed.

"Oh, alright… that's lame." Black Star looked disappointed. "Sensing stuff's the only thing you're half decent at."

"You really know how to tick me off." Maka was about to continue when she, along with Kid, Stein, and Neko, sensed a soul ahead of them.

"Professor Stein!" Maka called out to the teacher.

"Yeah." Stein acknowledged her and at the same time explained that he felt the same thing.

"I sense a soul, just beyond those shadows." Maka informed. "There's someone there… I know that soul!" She grumbled with disgust.

They all watched and waited as the footsteps came closer, approaching them in the dark. Neko quietly got ready to attack whatever it was.

"How'd you manage to escape from the trap they set up there?" Stein asked.

"When it comes to chasing a woman, no one's faster than I am." He flashed a dazzling but awkward and creepy smile and gave a thumbs up.

"I should have guessed." Stein sighed. "It is a relief to see you though. I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to do without my weapon around."

Spirit turned around and glared bitterly into the darkness of the hallway.

"What've we got? Are they up ahead?" Stein stepped closer to the Death Scythe.

"Uh huh, lying in wait for us." Spirit informed the meister before transforming into a large black scythe.

"Listen up," Stein grabbed the weapon and turned to face the students at the same time. "From this point forward there's no telling what could happen. It'd be best for you weapons not to return to human form during the battle. When you're variable, a single blow could be the end of you."

Everyone nodded in understanding before turning to look at the blackness facing them.

"Why're they lying in wait for us?" Black Star asked. "I thought they were on their way to the Kishen."

"No," Stein replied to Black Star. "They would've left some of them behind for protection."

It didn't take more than a few seconds of silence to hear a pair of soft footsteps making their way towards them.

"Hey, did you hear something?" Black Star spoke to nobody in general.

"Hear what?" Maka leaned forward.

"Yeah, I hear it." Neko frowned, pulling herself into a combative stance.

The footsteps grew louder.

"Yeah, I hear that." Maka also fell into a fighting stance.

"It sounds like footsteps." Kid leaned forward, half in order to be able to fight, half because in doing so, he was protecting Neko by being in front of her to ward off any attacks.

"So they're finally showing themselves." Black Star raised the ninja knife in a ready strike pose.

They waited.

"Who's it gonna be?" Black Star whispered in impatience.

"Someone who's capable of defeating multiple opponents," Stein explained. "Someone who can attack several people simultaneously. Someone who will be sure not to let us live- no matter what."

The figure slowly came into view, a large purple soul surrounding her.

When she stopped the soul swelled and the decorations showed who she was.

"How nice it is to see you all again." Medusa smiled.

"Alright," Stein spoke to the kids while not taking his eyes off of the witch. "Here's how I think it's going to break down;"

Everyone leaned in to listen.

"For the most part we can anticipate our enemy's moves. The first roadblock is going to be Medusa." Stein explained. "The Demon Sword will be the second barrier. After that, the remaining two will be making their way to the Kishen. The werewolf, Maka and the others fought, is immortal, so he'll be next- to protect the black blood at all costs."

Stein glanced at the teens to make sure they understood before he went back to watching the witch. "Now than, this is where we come in. I'll stay here and keep Medusa busy. While I'm distracting her, I want the four of you to run past her as quickly as possible."

Stein stole a glance at Kid, "Kid, you're the most mobile of our little army, so you continue on ahead of us after the two who are heading for the Kishen."

"I understand." Kid nodded.

"Black Star, you'll be keeping the demon sword busy so that Kid and Maka can get through. Since you can attack directly with your soul wavelength, you can do the most damage to the demon sword." Stein glanced at Black Star and Maka before turning back to Medusa.

"Yeah." Black Star agreed.

"Maka, you run on past Medusa and the demon sword and catch up with Kid. Then you destroy the black blood." Stein now looked at Neko.

"Right." Maka nodded.

"Neko, you, by far, are the most powerful of our group. I require you to stay and help me distract Medusa. When the chance approaches after the rest of the group has gone on, I want you to break past this witch and help whoever needs it." Stein nodded.

"Got it." Neko looked at Medusa with a determined look.

"There's just one last thing; I want you all to make me a promise." Stein looked at his tiny army and for a second you could see that, beneath his usual bored or insane personality, Stein really cared about everyone- even if he himself didn't know it. "I want you to promise not to die. Can you do that?"

Everyone voiced their promises and turned with Stein to face the current blockade.

"Holding a strategy meeting right in front of your enemy?" Medusa stated calmly. "Is that really the best idea?"

Stein reached up and took off his glasses. "Ah, well. I guess we'll just have to take our chances, won't we?"

"Always so stupidly confident- aren't you?" The witch's face suddenly contorted to look more snake-like. "Shall we start the party than?"

A cloud of dust began to arise around Medusa, "Snake, snake. Cobra, cobra. Snake, snake! Cobra, cobra!" She chanted.

"Here we go!" Stein warned the students. "Don't worry about getting past her right away, wait for a good opening to present itself, stay calm and collected."

They watched as Medusa raised her arms in a wavy motion, it reminded Neko much of _her own_ movements for fighting.

"Here it is." Stein positioned himself.

Medusa raised her arms above her head before pointing them at the group, hundreds of black arrows rose up behind her. "Vector Arrow." The arrows shot forward at the army like bullets.

"She's picked a perfect spell for keeping multiple attackers at bay." Stein watched as the arrows charged at them. "And its more powerful than last time."

Kid, Black Star, and Maka yelled together as they approached the arrows.

Kid was first to go, he used his skateboard to jump over and deflect the black attackers.

"I'm not gonna hold back! Now, enchanted sword mode!" Black Star ran in through the blackness after Kid.

"It's time to punish you, impudent boy!" Medusa sent more vector arrows at them.

Kid deflected the many darts and landed unevenly on the ground behind the witch. He swerved heavily before righting himself and skating away, "Black Star, I'm going to keep moving!"

"Right!" Black Star yelled and ran faster.

Neko stood to the side, using her electricity to shoot down as many arrows as she could.

Black Star ripped through the blackness just as Maka was approaching the area.

"All vectors to Maka." Medusa commanded.

Neko and Stein watched, making sure that Maka was okay.

Neko stepped forward to help the fellow teen but Stein blocked her. "No, she can handle this."

Neko watched as Maka ran straight for the witch, the arrows aimed at her. Maka raced the bullets as she ran faster and faster before she cut through the black wall beside Medusa, somersaulted forward, and leapt back to her feet to begin running down the open hallway.

"You aren't going anywhere, girl!" Medusa turned to look after the running meister.

Stein ran forward, leaving Neko to stand alone, he stepped down and set his feet firmly before he shoved his palm into the witch's back, "Soul Force!"

Medusa yelped as she was flung into the air.

Neko said nothing but ran past Stein; she jumped into the air and shot a lightning bolt down at Medusa.

"Stupid girl!" Medusa's arrow snagged around her ankle and brought her crashing to the floor.

Neko picked herself up and glared at the witch.

"Did you really think I'd let _you_ get away after letting three others escape my wrath?" Medusa chuckled,

Neko said nothing while she fell into a fighting stance.

"Oh, so you're actually going to stand and fight?" Medusa egged her on.

Neko ran at her and sent a kick toward the ex-school nurse's head.

"You won't get me with a simple trick like-" Medusa had grabbed the reaper's leg and flipped her upside down, but Neko had been planning on this and reached out, grabbing Medusa's calf tightly and sending out a painful, cramping from of shock.

"Ah!" Medusa gasped as she fell to her knees, Neko did a handspring to get away from the witch and made sure she was safe from any arrows before looking back to see Stein nod his approval. She spun around hard and took off at a speed that should have been impossible to achieve.

"It's just you and me now Medusa…" Neko heard Stein say before she was out of ear-shot.

Neko ran until she saw Maka just ahead of her, "Maka!" She skidded to a stop a few feet behind the panting form.

"Neko?" Maka turned and looked questionably at the girl. "Weren't you supposed to stay with Stein?"

Neko shook her head, "Stein gave me the go ahead."

Maka nodded, "let's keep going than."

"Right." Neko started to run, setting her pace so that Maka could keep up.

They ran down the empty, but elaborately decorated, hallways until they reached an open room, large golden pillars held it up while they saw a pink haired boy and a blue haired boy facing each other.

Maka picked up her speed and ran past the reaper.

"Black Star, hold up a second." Maka slowed her pace as she got closer to the two boys.

"You made it here quick for someone so slow." Neko heard Black Star comment as she walked up to stand beside Maka.

"Stand back and let me handle this." Maka ordered.

"Maka, I've seen what happened last time, you'd be killed." Neko put her hand on her shoulder.

Maka shrugged it off.

"What are you thinking? I'm not gonna let you take the spotlight off me." Black Star commented smugly.

Maka swung her scythe without a word, putting it in the blue-haired boy's way.

"Come on, keep acting cocky like this and you're going to get yourself killed." Black Star was trying desperately to stay calm, he studied Maka's cool and collected face. "A good student like you, Maka? Disobeying a direct order from a professor? What? Teen rebellion?"

Maka smiled slyly, "Just stand back."

"Alright, if that's how you're going to be…" Black Star looked at Neko. "Spotlight's yours."

Neko sighed, "I've never liked the idea of revenge but… if you really feel that you can handle this… I'll pretend I didn't see anything." She gave a small smile to the dirty-blond girl.

"He's all yours, careful though- no stupid moves." Black Star said quietly.

"Yeah." Maka watched the nervous, pink-haired boy.

"Just give me a shout if you get yourself in trouble. I'll rescue your sorry butt." Black Star gave her a thumbs up.

"Yeah, _okay_." Maka was getting frustrated. "I get it, thanks for the support- now go already."

Neko and Black Star glanced at one another.

"Just be careful, Maka. Remember your promise." Neko patted the girl on the back before taking off with Black Star.

"Tsubaki, we're taking off after Kid." Black Star informed his weapon as he ran out of the room and him and Neko started their race to catch up to Kid.

"I won't let you past me." The boy raised his weapon.

"See ya!" Black Star and Neko leapt over him and continued out of the other side of the room.

"Bye!" Neko called over her shoulder before she got too far away.


	26. Race to the Kishen

******Chapter 26: Race to the Kishen (Hallucinations?)**

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><p>The pair of teens, Neko and Black Star raced down the hall. They could hear something ahead of them but they couldn't tell what it was.<p>

"So why don't ya ever talk in school?" Black Star ran alongside Neko.

"Well, when I had just come here I was recovering from a fight- it hurt to speak at all. Now, it seems like everyone expects me to be quiet- why bother changing something that isn't bad to begin with?" Neko explained.

"Yeah, I get that. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I stayed quiet for a day or so, if people would notice me anymore." Black Star said this just before jumping over a downed part of thick ceiling.

_Am I having a "heart to heart" with Black Star?_ Neko's brow furrowed.

"So, what fight didja get yourself into?" The blue-haired boy questioned.

Neko stayed quiet for a few minutes before answering; "if it doesn't bother you too much- I'd rather not talk about it just yet…" Her voice faded off.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Black Star scoffed. "How far could Kid have gotten?"

"He's a reaper- and he has a skateboard, I would expect him to be pretty far by now." Neko looked forward into the blackness that always took a step backward as they took a step forward.

"_Someone_ needs to catch up to him." Black Star grumbled.

"Black Star," Neko looked over at the boy beside her. "If I were to leave now, could you find Kid?"

The boy scoffed, "yeah, why?"

"I'm going to leave you, I'm going to catch up to Kid." Neko answered.

"What?" Black Star looked at her.

"I'm faster than this, much faster. I'm going to use that to catch up to Kid." Neko explained.

"Fine, get going!" Black Star smiled.

Neko's mouth turned into a serious frown, she nodded at the blue-haired boy, and then took off, diligently searching for the boy in the symmetrical suit.

She kept running along the hallways that seemed to be growing in destruction to the area.

The statues were destroyed, the pillars were crumbling, the floors and ceiling had sections missing or close to caving in.

She kept running until she saw him, speeding down the hall on his skateboard, she slowed down and ran alongside him.

"Find anything yet?" Neko asked.

Kid must have felt her coming because he didn't seem very surprised to suddenly have her by his side. "No."

As he said this he saw something at the end of the hallway, a black tadpole speeding towards them.

It flew at him and Neko and exploded suddenly, sending Kid off of his skateboard and Neko through the air, they landed hard and rolled- one on either side of the narrowing hallway.

"A bomb, huh?" Kid sat up.

"Yeah." Neko groaned and pulled herself to her feet, cursing Medusa for bruising her ankle, and watching as Kid also gathered himself as he stood up, firmly clutching each gun in his hands.

By some voice that Neko couldn't hear, Kid turned his head and looked down the hall. "They're arranged at random… with no pattern." Neko turned to see what he was talking about and sighed when she saw the many more bombs. "No symmetry," Kid continued, "absolutely disgusting."

Kid fell to his knees in depression.

"Kid!" Neko ran over to him and knelt by his side. "What's wrong?"

"This trap…" Kid gagged with nausea. "May be the end of me…" He hung his head in defeat. "It's over."

"Kid, face this, you just need to fly past and you'll be okay." Neko tried to pull him up and heard him muttering something about _reaper scum_ and _garbage day_, she could make a good guess that Kid was talking about himself.

Kid suddenly stood straight up and leapt onto his skateboard, he grabbed Neko and positioned her to stand on the board in front of him, to make sure she didn't get feel the most from the explosions they were about to endure, before flying into the minefield.

_Liz and Patty must have talked to him._ Neko could hear Kid yelling at his weapons, but couldn't make out any distinct words due to the massive explosions going off all around her.

They landed as smoothly as possible and continued on down the hall, which was growing increasingly corroded.

"Kid, a hole!" Neko held on tighter to the other reaper in fear of falling off due to a turn or flip at the break-neck speeds they were traveling at.

"I know, I see it too." Kid jumped over the large hole in the floor, using a broken pillar to do so, and landed wobbly, swerving instantly as he needed to avoid more debris.

"This place is a complete mess!" He grumbled. "It hardly even looks like a building anymore."

"Stay focused, Kid." Neko ordered softly.

They rode over the stone path saying nothing, only listening to the sound of the wheels underneath them rumbling along, it would have been calming if not for the fact that they were fighting for the fate of the world.

"Neko?" Kid suddenly decided to try again at asking an answer to the question that had been bothering him for a little less than a week.

"Yeah?" Neko would have leaned back to see him better but was worried it would set the balance of Beelzebub off and tip them.

"You trust me right?" Kid asked.

"Um…" Neko wasn't sure where Kid was going with this. "Why?"

"Do you?" Kid urged her to answer.

"Yeah" Neko was weary to give him a reply.

"Could you answer me one question then?" Kid stared straight ahead at the hall.

"What?" Neko shifted her weight a little so that she was closer to Kid, she wasn't used to being in front of Kid; she rode behind him, her arms curled snugly around his waist. Here, she had nothing to hold onto, and felt more insecure and off balance.

"What's wrong with your family?" Kid leaned slightly back to turn around a large fallen statue.

Neko sighed, "If I give you an answer, no matter how little it answers, will it satisfy you?"

Kid thought about this for a second, considering that she may answer like his father, _then again, I should trust her, as much as I want her to trust me._ He nodded even though she couldn't see. "Yes."

"They died…" was all Neko said, no explanations, no story, but it still made Kid's breath catch in his throat.

"I'm sorry." Kid felt guilt punch his body. Everything was connecting; _I'd like you to make funeral preparations…, They're in a bit of a rut…, they're DEAD._

"Nothing you did." Neko shrugged.

"I'm sorry because I was making you think about it every time I asked." Kid felt the guilt kick him hard, mercilessly beating him up.

"I thought about it anyways, still- every time I think about how they're _dead_, I remind myself that I was strong enough to stay _alive_." Neko spoke thoughtfully. "I know it's an odd, and to some people; evil, way to think about it but- that's how it is. I'm alive."

"Yeah, I'm happy about that too." Kid's mouth and body worked together, ignoring his brain, and he wrapped his arms gently around her in a backwards hug.

Kid snapped back to reality and was about to pull away when, to his surprise and secret delight, Neko returned the hug by simply holding onto his arms.

They were beginning to get side-tracked when Kid stopped suddenly and stared at something ahead of him.

"What?" Neko looked forward and felt it too, immense power and madness. She shuttered.

"I can sense the Kishen's wavelength." Kid spoke quietly before his body tensed up, Neko did the same after staggering off the skateboard.

"It's like nothing I've ever sensed before." He felt the sweat trickling heavily down his face.

Neko zoned out of what Kid was saying as she felt herself fall onto her back, heart racing, memories that she never wanted to remember began to surface; _a dark house, murder, silence, Silence, SILENCE! The solid sound of _nothing_ made her body ache. _

Neko felt herself falling into a panicked state.

She snapped out of it suddenly and heard Kid telling the last bit of the story about his father's dealings with Asura to his weapons.

The weapons must have replied, but Neko couldn't hear them, _the_ _one trait I find most annoying about weapons- ONLY their miesters can hear them talking… unless the weapon wants to be heard by everyone._

Kid started rolling his skateboard forward again, putting distance between any attacker that might appear from the darkness and Neko, but stopped once more.

Neko stood up, "Kid, what's wrong?"

A huge blue object sped past them, carving a rut into the hallway.

The pair stood on either side of the gap, Neko stood a few feet closer to the glowing orb and gasped, realizing what it was, a second before it went off with a large boom.

Both of the reapers were flung several feet through the air, they landed and rolled painfully down the brick before coming to a stop.

"Cannon fire!" Kid panted, "but from where?"

Neko looked in the same direction as Kid and saw it; a tall, well built figure, with a glowing eye.

The black and grey werewolf with the glowing red eye stood, ready to fight, twenty yards down the hall.

"So this is the immortal?" Kid stood up and looked at the wolf. "Dang it! I was so distracted by the Kishen that I didn't notice him."

Kid focused in on him for a second before running forward a few steps and opening fire on him.

Neko stood up and ran to stand directly across from Kid in the hall; she fired balls of electricity through her hands, aiming at the motionless creature.

Both shots from the teens passed through him like he wasn't even there.

"Aw, nice try." The werewolf growled.

They sighed with agitation as they stood, staring at the monster they had to defeat, both thinking of a way to fight and get past an immortal.

"You're not going anywhere!" The wolf lunged at Kid, Kid jumped to the side at the last second and flipped over just as the animal's claws tried to swipe his legs out from under him.

Kid aimed his guns and fired at the same time that Neko sent a lightning bolt, powerful enough to power Death City for a year, at its head.

"Missed me!" The werewolf teased.

Kid flipped backwards several times and spun in midair, "alright, let's try something else."

Neko flipped over the wolf and cut a hard left so that she wasn't in Kid's line of fire.

"Girls! Soul resonance! Execution mode!" Kid called out to his weapons.

He crouched patently in the stirring dust until he floated into the air, a blue orb surrounding him as the twin pistols transformed and engulfed his arms, turning into cannons somewhere along the way.

He flashed his arms out and broke the light around him, he dropped into a crouch and, glaring up at his target, made a simple statement; "Death Cannon."

The powerful shot sent him skidding backwards an inch as the area in front of him disappeared into black smoke, shards of rock flew in random directions.

Kid took a breath, "that should have done something." He and Neko stared into the thinning grey smoke.

"What?" Kid's eye's opened in terror as the werewolf was suddenly standing directly in front of him.

The wolf focused in and swiped his paw at Kid's face.

Kid dodged carefully out of the way and continued to do so for the next two strikes, leaping away from his exposed position agilely and flipping back several feet.

"Kid?" Neko stared at the boy. "You okay?"

"Yeah, this is _my_ fight though- so stay where you are, 'kay?"

Neko nodded.

Kid at first seemed to be looking for a way to get around the obstacle but Neko soon realized that his OCD was getting to him as he glanced nervously around to the various broken things.

A nervous, frantic, and insane smile came across his face all at once. "Okay, yeah, I have it now," Kid laugh was high and panicky. He began pointing and babbling about which pillars went where, finally exclaiming about how it connected beautifully.

"Um…" The werewolf watched Kid but leaned towards Neko, "does this happen often?"

Neko looked at the wolf, which was actually smaller than Skift had been, she glanced back at Kid, and then looked at the wolf. She sighed and nodded.

Kid suddenly groaned and fell to his hands and knees.

"If it's some kind of puzzle game you're playing, I'll join you! I love a good puzzle." The wolf suggested.

By his tone of voice and the electric signals Neko could tell that the man was being honest.

Kid on the other hand, could not.

"How dare you mock me!" He growled before becoming distracted again by the statues lying to corrode around him.

He began to glance around the room while scratching his head, his hand moving back and forth more and more quickly.

Neko could tell that he was on the verge of an extreme meltdown and was about to do something when, almost out of nowhere, Black Star ran up behind the symmetry obsessed mess and punched him firmly in the back, sending Death the Kid flying off to the side.

"Yahoo!" Black Star looked at the moderately surprised Neko; "we caught up to you!" He began to laugh proudly.

"Good job." Neko nodded.

He went on to ramble about how he won, giving Kid time to find his balance and face the egomaniac.

"Moron! It's me!" Kid also went into rambling about how they were on the same sides.

"Oh… that's not good at all man." Black Star had obviously understood Kid's screaming. "What're you doing standing around here for then?" He turned around and saw the werewolf, who had been standing- waiting for them to do something- very patently.

Kid suddenly turned and looked at the werewolf, "so he does." He was obviously responding to something his weapons were saying. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the creature's feet.

Neko also looked at the wolf's feet and saw what Kid was focused on; there was a ball and chain on its right foot but not on its left.

Black Star took on a stronger stance and pointed accusingly at the _lycanthrope,_ "hey, werewolf; I don't let anyone stand in _my_ way. Let's go Tsubaki!" He took off running at the wolf.

"We'll back you!" Kid also shifted his feet to form a tighter stance and began firing at the creature while Neko fired a rapid succession of balled lightning to go with Kid's bullets, making more of a punch.

"Let's just see you try!" The werewolf growled as the bullets and lightning simply flew through him.

"Let's go; Speed Storm!" Black Star began running fast enough that at some points only Kid and Neko could see him.

The werewolf tried not to show it but it was obvious that he was getting intimidated by the blue-haired teen.

Black Star stepped in to hit the creature with his knife, the werewolf dodged. Black Star struck again, the wolf dodged again, again and again Black star swiped at the animal, and again and again the animal dodged fleetingly out of the way.

Kid and Neko stopped firing, realizing that there was something wrong with what was going on.

"Oh." Kid sighed, lowered his guns, and stood up from his kneeling position.

Neko seemed to realize the same thing and walked with Kid over to the werewolf.

"He tricked us." Kid and Neko walked forward, both Black Star and the werewolf stared at them in surprise.

"What're you doing? You want me to tear you up?" The wolf growled and bared it's teeth.

"Into eight pieces if you don't mind." Kid stated calmly. "Go ahead- I won't stop you. Oh, in your current form you can't touch me, can you?"

The man's muzzle formed something that was supposed to resemble a smile, "finally figured it out, did you?" The wolf's form melted away to reveal a strongly built man who stared down smugly at the three children.

Kid began to walk forward.

"Hey, hey!" Black Star watched as Kid walked directly through the hologram of the man in front of them.

Neko sighed.

"I take it this is a spell cast by the magic eye." Kid stood in the _exact_ same place as the hologram.

"Yes, it displays a live image of me from somewhere else." The man explained before questioning Kid and Neko, "What gave me away?"

"You never tried to dodge the bullets or lightning bolts me and Neko shot in your direction." Kid stated flatly.

"But, you didn't want Black Star's blade attacks to hit you; because they'd have gone through without resistance and prove that you were nothing more than an image." Neko finished his sentence.

"I assume the initial blast came from behind. You had to make the image look like the real deal. The fact that people commonly like to attack immortal's from a distance play into your favor too, you were counting on that all along." Kid walked the rest of the way through the man before turning around and pointing a finger at Black Star, making it look like his arm was sticking out of the man's stomach. "What I want to know is why you didn't notice when you stabbed him!"

Black Star grew a sheepish smile, "I'm Black Star; I just figured my attacks were so awesome that my blade just slid right through him without me feeling anything!" He shouted.

"Oh really?" Kid's face appeared through the man. "So than what is your excuse, Tsubaki?"

Tsubaki allowed herself to be heard; "I just thought he had improved."

"Let's get going!" Neko ran through the man and continued down the hall.

"Neko's right, we wasted a lot of time with that trick. Let's go Black Star." Kid grabbed his skateboard.

"Right!" Black Star shouted.

The pair of boy's sped off after the girl.

Kid caught up to Neko faster and together they launched themselves through the doors shutting the Kishen off from the other hallways.

Kid used his rockets to fly ahead of Neko, aiming for the witch who grasped the black blood in a large syringe.

The Kishen's madness hit both of the teens at the same time.

Kid struggled against nothing and shot desperately at the ceiling.

Neko fell to her knee's, gripping her head in an agony that posed as the worst migraine she'd ever had. "Ah, dang, wh-what… ah!" She couldn't open her eyes, the pain held her face shut.

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><p>She couldn't hear anything, there was nothing; darkness, silence, it wasn't until she began to panic, to struggle desperately to hear something that she could.<p>

But when she realized what she was listening to, she wanted to get away. Not to go back- silence was nothing. Nothing was painful. She just wanted to get away from the memories.

Images flashed across her vision in the darkness; a woman- a witch, a man- a kishen, there was blood.

Something that wasn't quite a picture but was a deep enough knowledge came across with it; she knew what happened to her mother, to her sister. She knew because she had heard- the last thing before silence.

She was suddenly in her house, the halls were dim, the air smelled of rust and something else that she couldn't place her finger on… _death, maybe?_

She listened for anything, she thought she could hear shouting downstairs but… she couldn't… could she?

"Father?" She walked slowly down the staircase,_ where is he?_ "Father, where are you?"

She was in the living room, there was a woman, staring at her with a glazed over look of insanity. A man appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, there was a very large purple soul in his hand, she recognized it from somewhere.

"F-father?" Her voice was only a whimper, she could tell wither she could hear or not, by the tightness in her throat.

Something was in view of the doorway, it was far back in the dark blackness of the kitchen, but she knew what it was; her father's coat.

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><p> Neko felt the pain in her head vanish, the memories slowly made their way away from the front of her mind. She looked around dumbly to gather her bearings.<p>

Kid was in front of her, watching as the young witch and a man screamed at each other, they both gave off electric signals showing that they were terrified. The man though, he gave off another signal too; madness.

_This is Kishen Asura? He looks sort of… weak._ Neko could tell that her body hadn't gained its balance yet, so she stayed on her hands and knees, swaying to an invisible force.

"It's scared of Erica." Was the first thing Neko heard, she looked around and saw Black Star, he was saying something but, due to Neko's ringing ears, she couldn't hear it.

Black Star was whispering to something and seemed to be in a great deal of pain himself, he picked himself up and ran at Asura without Tsubaki in hand.

Kid also ran at the Kishen from another angle, carrying both of his guns in his hands.

The Kishen paid almost no mind to them, he slapped Black Star dismissively with the back of his hand, causing Black Star to become stunned before being thrown back in the direction he'd come. Kid had opened fire on Asura and was flicked by a stretch of skin the Kishen had sent at him. He also flew backwards, landing knocked out on the ground.

Neko watched as the man proceeded to use the loose skin around his body to make something that resembled scarves, which wrapped around his body in a baggy fashion.

"Nakedness is just so wrong!" He exclaimed after the scarves had settled over his body, head, and around him to take on the job of being either weapons or an extra set of hands. "I need to cover up!"

He crouched and launched himself at the ceiling, "I like the macho look." He muttered the complement as he flew up, crashing himself through the roof and continuing to do so as to reach the surface of Death City.

Neko ran at the man and was met by Maka as they both took hold of one of his scarves and grasped it tightly as they flew through the different layers of earth.

"Come back here!" Maka shouted, digging her scythe into the rock.

The Kishen exploded from the ground; he sent a wavelength over his scarves, knocking Maka and Neko off in midair.

"Maka!" Neko looked up to see that Soul had transformed and was getting underneath his miester to protect her fall.

Neko landed on the stone road and sent out an electric pulse, creating a softer impact for the pair as they crashed into an abandoned fruit stand.

Neko ran forward as she watched the old death seals shoot out from the ground and latch onto Asura.

She stopped running when she saw Lord Death, slowly making his way over to the trapped man.

They stared at each other, Neko could tell that words were being exchanged but, due to how high they were up in the air, she was out of ear shot.

Lord Death suddenly reached out, "Reaper Chop!" His old voice echoed across Death City as Asura was slammed back into the roads of the city with a painful crash and a cloud of dust.

Asura laughed.

Neko lunged forward and sent an electric bolt at the Kishen, who was currently lying on the ground in a crater formed by his impact.

The lightning hit the man and sent him flying up into the air.

He landed with a sharp thud and sat up, his scarves separating in the process, looking for whatever had just caused him to do that.

His eyes fell upon a teenage girl who was standing in a fighting stance about twenty feet away, green and purple electricity flowed in a random course around her hands and forearms.

"Before you can fight Death, you have to fight me." The girl frowned.

_There's something familiar about this runt…_ Asura stood up, "are you related to Grim Reaper?"

The girl gave a short nod.

"Fine, let's fight- I'll be finished with you soon enough." Asura's scarves posed for a strike.

Lord Death floated above, saying nothing. _She's doing this for a reason; she knows what she's doing. She's also fully recovered from her last fight… let's see how much power she really has._


	27. Reapers vs Kishens

**Chapter 27: Reapers vs. Kishens (Unlocking What?)**

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><p>Asura's scarves shot forward with deadly speed and precision, aiming for Neko's chest and head.<p>

Neko fell into the splits and lay backwards, allowing the weapons to fly over her head. "You'll have to do better than that!" She reached up and grabbed the cloth-like skin and sent an electric shock back at the Kishen.

Asura flew back several feet before his legs began working again and allowed him to skid to a stop.

Scarves flew at her and Neko dodged easily; sidestep, handspring, splits, flip, sidestep, counter attack.

"Why are you fighting?" Asura took a step forward while Neko stood up and brought her arms up to protect her face from the sudden single scarf that was shot at her face.

"Because what you're doing isn't going to help anybody. I won't let you harm innocent people." The girl ran forward and kicked the Kishen across the face.

"Nobody's truly innocent." Asura's scarf wrapped around Neko's ankle and threw her into a stone wall.

"T-that may be true, but they are much better than you." She picked herself up from the rubble and fired a large chunk of balled lightning; it skimmed Asura lightly as he flipped over it and landed in a crouch, still watching Neko.

"Are they?" Asura stared at her. "Are they really?"

Neko used several handsprings and flips to maneuver away from the wave of scarves that lunged at her.

"Yes." She clapped her hands together and slowly pulled them apart, a cone of blue light blew from between her hands and expanded toward the Kishen, "Blue jet!"

Asura flew into the air on impact.

"Red sprite!" Neko pointed at a spot above Asura and a bright red flash threw the man back down to the pavement.

"You- you're quite powerful, aren't you?" Asura groaned and chuckled as he stood up.

"Oh, that? No." Neko smiled slyly. "I'm just getting started!" She moved her arms around her in a circular pattern and soon, bolts of lightning began to appear around her and the Kishen.

The lightning formed together and built a wall around them, branches of the plasma energy shot up, making a dome shaped roof that was see-through.

Neko stopped moving her arms, the electricity stayed around them even though she wasn't moving her hands.

"So, now what?" Asura chuckled but stayed where he was.

Neko gave no answers but instead, with the flick of her wrist, she shocked him by making a branch of lightning streak out of the wall of electricity.

"Well, I guess this is the point where you would think you had the upper hand." Asura's scarves suddenly wrapped around her from behind, holding tight against her struggles, "it's at this point that you're going to die."

Neko stopped struggling and let out a deep breath, the lightning evaporated as she did so.

"Are you ready?" Asura grinned.

Neko calmly nodded.

Asura's smile faltered, "you aren't scared?"

Neko nodded again.

"You are scared?" Asura felt annoyance growing up inside of him.

Neko nodded.

Asura's smile grew back, "good, you should be."

His scarves bent to achieve momentum before whipping her harshly into a house; he gagged slightly as he opened his mouth and shot a powerful red blast into the dust, sending up fire and black smoke.

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><p>"Stop!" A deep, booming voice commanded, Lord Death flew fiercely at the Kishen, being blocked, seconds before he would have hit the man, by his four scarves.<p>

Lord Death grunted with determination as he used his reaper chop to break through some of the defensives.

Asura chuckled before the weapons flung him away, sending him crashing into a house.

"You're not going _anywhere_!" Lord Death's real voice growled as he jumped out of the rubble.

Asura just maintained his smile, even as the bright yellow skull mask crashed down upon him, aiming to crush him as much as possible. He screamed as he shoved the skull back up and made it disappear.

Asura knelt on the ground, his hands in their usual praying-like form, and smiled up at Lord Death before flying up at him, "out of the way!"

Vajra appeared out of his mouth and shot at the reaper at the same time that Shinigami-sama pulled up his yellow skull shield.

The red waves from Asura's weapon bounced from the shield and into the city. "You can't stop me now!" He garbled through the various obstacles.

Lord Death could feel his shield buckling under the force of his old friends attack but before he could do anything he felt a rush of wind and a sudden eruption of pain in his head and down the side of his neck.

He stumbled, fighting for conciseness his rockets stopped for a second before he gained his bearings back and turned around to face the Kishen. "You filthy, unforgivable _swine_! That's it! I'm going to skin you alive again!"

His black skulls shot out from his cloak and sped toward Asura but rebounded a few feet away from the insanely laughing man.

"You deflected my attack?" Lord Death rose up more to be at Asura's level. "Darn you, shrewd demon! You knew there was a boundary past which my attacks wouldn't be able to hit you!"

Asura nodded slightly, "I doubt we'll ever be meeting again."

Death tried to think of something to say but could only pant as another wave of pain washed over his head.

"Goodbye, master. It's been fun." Asura turned and flew off into the sky, leaving destruction in his wake.

Slowly he descended back into the city, his skull rockets wired as he landed on the school balcony and looked out over the city.

"Lord Death!" Sid ran up behind him.

"Sid, our first priority is to take care of the students who went underground to fight." His real voice was still set in his throat.

"Right." Sid didn't seem to be thrown off by this vocal change.

"We'll need reinforcements; contact the death scythes that are scattered across the continents. Tell them to gather… quickly." Lord Death continued to watch as the smoke plumed over the city.

"Yes sir!" Sid hurried inside to start his task.

Shinigami-sama sighed. "To think, a kishen would revive on today of all days." His voice changed back to its high-pitched, happy tone. "The anniversary celebration of the academy I built to prevent the creation of more kishens." He looked up at the school. "Things are about to get very busy."

He looked back out across the city and his eyes fell on the house where Neko had been thrown into, he slowly made his way down the stairs and picked his way through the rubble in the streets.

"Neko?" He stopped a few feet away from the caved-in wall.

He saw a figure stand up, a glowing, purple, band of light, was wrapped around the neck of the person.

Dust which had begun to resettle picked up and blew around again as a long, thin object flew at the person through the smoke and connected near their shoulder.

Lord Death waited for a second, staring into the thick smoke to watch this odd sight, he heard a small grunt of pain and called out the reaper's name again, "Neko? Are you alright? …Are you dead?"

He heard laughter from the figure as they walked closer to him.

"Now, see here, how could I answer that question if I really was dead?" Neko walked over the broken wall and stood by the older reaper.

Lord Death eyed her and saw that Neko was wearing the same outfit as her father. He made note that the sleeve on the right side was badly torn and the arm inside that sleeve seemed to be hanging, limp and very bloody, from her shoulder. His eye's flickered to her neck, where he had seen the glowing ring, and felt built up in his chest as his suspicions were confirmed.

"Congrats!" Lord Death looked at the lines on her neck and saw that the middle one was wrapped fully around her neck. "You unlocked your first sanzu line!" Death clapped his hands before pointing at her.

"Thanks!" Neko smiled. "I'm happy I did too, otherwise I don't know how long it would've taken to reattach my arm."

Lord Death stared at her for a second, shocked. "Asura blew your arm off?" He felt even more anger build up toward the Kishen.

Neko shrugged, "it seems pretty fine now."

"Well, I'd still like Nygus to take a look at it." Shinigami-sama felt his parenting take over. "But, really, I'm so proud! You unlocked your first line, sanzu lines give you power that your father had and will help you become that much closer to a grim reaper!"

"Yeah, I wonder what kind of new moves I can do now!" Neko giggled, feeling the extra power surging through her.

"Let's get back up to the school." Lord Death put a friendly hand on her good shoulder and walked with her back into the school and down the hall.

They stopped and stared in surprise at the long line stretching down the hall and around the corner to the small nursing room.

"Um…" Lord Death was suddenly at a loss of what to do. He knew that himself and Neko should probably both get looked at by a nurse or doctor but also knew that by the time they got into the office and were being seen, they would already be healed.

"Want to go eat some ice cream?" Neko shrugged and suggested.

Death sighed and thought about it for a second before looking down at her, "yeah, sure, why not?"

They turned around calmly and left the way they came before turning and heading to gallows manor.


	28. Chatting With Death

_So, this chapter isn't long- isn't that short, it's sorta in the middle, but believe me- it holds a lot of significance for the rest of the story, once you finish- you'll understand why._**  
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**Chapter 28: Chatting With Death (Ice Cream and Presents?)**

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><p>"So," Lord Death slowly scooped out two bowls of ice cream. "How ya' doin'?"<p>

Neko knew that there was two sides to the question he was asking. "I'm doing well. How 'bout you?"

"…So do you want nuts or fudge? Both, maybe?" Lord Death walked across the kitchen and began pulling ingredients out of the cabinets and refrigerator.

Neko chuckled with annoyance before slapping the counter and walking across the room to pick up her position of standing by Death.

"Sorry, but over the sound of something beating around the bush, I didn't hear your answer to my question." Neko watched as Lord Death put the jar of "hot" fudge into the microwave.

"I- I said… I said; I feel great!" Lord Death nodded but turned his head to watch the microwave timer as he saw from her glare that said she knew the truth of the pain he was currently in.

"Oh, that's wonderful! So, you wouldn't mind if I did _this_." Neko snapped her fingers, causing a millisecond lightning flash to split the air, the effect was an eruption of rumbling sound that went off near Death's head.

Lord Death felt his head go fuzzy as his headache grew enormously.

"Uh huh, that's what I thought." Neko caught the reaper as he began to lean severely backwards.

"Come on, you need to sit down." Neko guided the dazed man in a cloak out of the kitchen and dumped him on one of the living room sofas.

"No, I'm fine, I need to finish making sundaes," Lord Death tried to stand up but was quickly shoved back down by the young girl.

"Stay…" she commanded and waited for a second, when she was sure the man wouldn't try to get back up she dashed for the kitchen.

"Here," Neko was back before Lord Death had time to think about where she'd gone. She held three white pills in one hand and a clear glass of water in the other.

Lord Death stared at it dumbly, never having been taken care of so extensively as now.

"It'll help your head and allow you to heal much faster." Neko explained and waited for him to take the objects in her hands.

He didn't.

"Well?" Neko felt more frustration growing inside of her.

"I don't need them." Lord Death explained.

Neko opened her mouth to reply when the microwave beeped, signaling that the fudge was hot and ready.

She sighed.

"I'm going to go finish making the sundaes. Take the medicine." Neko set the pills and glass of water on the coffee table in front of him and left the room.

Lord Death stared at the pills and clear liquid, he had the feeling that if he didn't doing it willingly- she would make him do it._ Just like her father._ Lord Death sighed as he reached for the water.

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><p>"And here we are; two hot fudge sundaes with crushed nuts and whipped cream!" Neko walked out of the kitchen holding two glass bowls that were filled with ice cream and the various toppings that make a hot fudge sundae.<p>

As she approached the couch that Death was sitting on she smiled, taking into account the missing pills and empty glass cup.

"Here you are," she handed him his bowl and nodded with pleasure when she saw that the crater that had taken up part of his left side was now filled with side of his mask and his cloak.

"Thank you!" He bounced a little on the cushion.

Neko nodded and placed herself on a couch directly across from Shinigami-sama. She took a small bite of ice cream and laughed.

"What?" Lord Death looked up from his sundae to study her.

"Kid would _kill_ us if he caught us doing this!" The girl giggled as she took another bite of ice cream. "You know his OCD?" Neko partly explained.

Lord Death thought about this for a moment before taking a scoop of ice cream and angling the spoon through the spikes at the bottom of the mask, easily eating the treat. "Yeah."

"Neko?" Lord Death looked across the area to the girl sitting on the opposite couch.

"What?" Neko watched the other reaper.

"I wanted to talk to you about something," Death set his slowly melting ice cream on the table next to the empty glass cup.

"What's on your mind?" Neko also set her bowl on the table, giving Lord Death her full attention.

"Well, when you first came here after…" he hesitated for a moment, "the _incident_, I was worried about how you would act and if I'd like you…" Lord Death paused to study the girl's expression.

Neko thought about what he had said for a moment and then chuckled, "considering you only met me once before then- that's a pretty logical worry… especially since I'm my father's daughter."

"Yes, Grim was always in some sort of trouble- quite a handful, but anyways; after a little time of chatting and socializing with you, I realized that you were already becoming like a daughter to me."

Neko stared at the man, waiting for him to continue.

"What I originally would have asked is: 'would it be okay if I adopted you?' But now, seeing as you and Kid have fallen in love..." He trailed off for a second in thought before regaining himself and continuing.

Neko blushed during his pause, knowing that Death was right about Kid and her.

"I wish to ask: Neko, would you like to stay here? To accept me and Kiddo and his weapons as your new family? You and Kid can stay together, it doesn't matter- in fact, it's all the better." Lord Death's words came out as a slightly jumbled mess which Neko had to sort through to find his meaning.

Neko, once she had figured out what he meant, gave him her signature small smile and nodded.

"Great!" Lord Death bounced and took up his bowl, eating another melting bite of ice cream.

Neko copied this movement and for a few minutes they sat quietly, the only sound was the tinkling of the metal spoons against the glass bowls and the occasional loud swallow.

"So, what're you planning to do about Asura?" Neko focused on her ice cream for a few seconds after the question had been presented before looking up at the shinigami.

Lord Death took another bite of ice cream, obviously getting the hang of weaving the spoon through the bottom of his mask. He didn't speak at all but the way his mask was angled, tilted to the side and up, showed that he seemed to be thinking about what to answer.

Finally he spoke up, "I don't really know." He looked back at Neko, somehow she felt as if he was asking her for advice.

Neko's eyes drifted back and forth as she also thought about what could be done. "You should continue as we're doing now; hunting witches. You should also assign the more powerful students to a separate team, so that on the more dangerous missions, if Kid or me isn't available, you know who you can go to without needing to sort through files to find 'exceptional' students." Neko offered. "You should also assign more people to watching maps, mirrors; anything that could show changes in populations or mental stabilities of people in cities and villages."

Lord Death just stared at her, shock and thoughtfulness radiating from his shadowy figure.

"What?" Neko shrugged and put a scoop of ice cream in her mouth.

"You sounded exactly like your father. He would have told me something along those lines as well…" His voice seemed to drift off, a hint of sadness lingering behind his voice.

"You miss him." Neko's tone said confirmed that it wasn't a question.

"He was a very good friend." Lord Death nodded, his head turning unconsciously to the side as he fell into thought. "But," He masked face snapped back up to look at the teenager in front of him. "While we're on the subject of your father, I have a gift for you." Lord Death stood up and bounced a little.

Neko followed his lead and began to rise from the sofa.

"No, stay here." Lord Death ordered her.

"Can I take care of the dishes?" Neko sighed.

"Fine!" Death sighed and bounced across the room, heading up the stairs.

Neko shrugged as she watched him turn the corner to go down the hall at the top of the grand staircase and proceeded to collect the glass cup and ice cream bowls and carry them back to the kitchen.

_ "Speaking of your father"… what could that have anything to do with stuff?_ Neko sighed as she washed the eatery and utensils.

"Neko," Lord Death called her back into the room.

Neko watched the floor as she walked out of the kitchen, still wiping her hands, she looked up and came to a dead stop, her mouth hanging open and the wind knocked from her lungs.

In Lord Death's bulky white hands was a black and purple trench coat. It had three black buttons going down the edge; three slotted holes matched their height on the opposite edge of the coat. It had thick pieces of cloth sewed and buttoned on each shoulder, the buttons and fabric matching the rest of the coat. The collar was high, the inside of it purple, so that the off color only peeked out from rest of the coat.

Neko took a shaky gasp as she surveyed the rest of the coat; the outside was thick, waterproof, polyester, while the inside was an inviting black nylon and silk.

"Neko?" Lord Death realized that Neko looked upset, tears brimmed in her eyes, threatening to spill over. "Neko, are you okay?"

"I- I need to sit down." Neko moved quickly over to the couch and sat down, still staring at the coat in shock.

Lord Death waited and watched as Neko just continued to stare at the jacket.

"How'd you get it?" Neko's voice finally came, only a whisper, as she looked at the tall, cloaked, reaper.

"Spirit grabbed it while everyone was cleaning the house. He told me that he thought me or you might want it." Lord Death explained and paused before adding; "do you want it?"

Neko stared at him for a minute, then to the coat, then back to Lord Death, "sure." She gave a small smile, stood up, and made her way to where Lord Death held the coat open for her.

She slipped into with ease and surprise, she had been expecting it to sag and bundle on the floor but it fit her perfectly.

"It's perfect." Neko smiled.

"It looks great." Lord Death clapped his hands.

Neko looked over the simple yet beautiful trench coat again, it hadn't changed other than the fact that it had switched ownership.

Nonetheless, it was the same as it had all of her life and would stay that way for a long time.

It was still her father's coat.


	29. Meeting the Death Scythes

_Hey, hey, hey, what's up, what's up, what's up? So, I would like to dedicate this chapter to Iron-Gear Serpant as she gave me the idea for this bit of ironic comedy. Here's to you, pal!_

**Chapter 29: Meeting the Death Scythes (Two Are Stronger Than One?)**

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><p>It had been a week since the fight between the Kishen Asura and Lord Death and Neko.<p>

In that time, Death City had been rebuilt and people were slowly, and timidly, returning to the schedule of their daily lives.

Neko stood in the bathroom, brushing her teeth quickly and carefully, she followed a pattern; left-back, front, right-back, front, back of teeth, repeat.

An annoying ping echoed through the mirror.

"Hello! Hello! Hello! How are ya? I…" Lord Death stopped talking as he saw that the girl was in her pajamas and brushing her teeth, puffy white foam globed around her mouth and dripped into the sink beneath her as she stared at him with surprise.

"Oh…" His voice betrayed how awkward he though this scene was.

"Yeah?" Neko's question was muffled under the enormous amounts of expanding toothpaste.

" Well, when you're finished getting dressed and brushing your teeth, I'd like for you to come to the Death room." Lord Death bounced a little bit.

Neko spit the excess foam from her mouth and looked at her again, "okay, no problem, I'll tell Kid and we'll-"

"No, no, no; only you." Lord Death clarified his request.

"Okay…" Neko's eyes narrowed as her head tilted to the left slightly. "What's this about?"

"Well, if I were to tell you there's a possibility you wouldn't come." Lord Death nodded.

"Wait, what? What do you mean? Why…" Neko began asking questions.

"'Kay, bye!" Lord Death severed the link between their mirrors before he had to answer anything.

Neko sighed at Lord Death's usual avoidance to answering questions and went about the task of finishing getting ready for the day.

She went into her room and gently pushed her bronze rimmed glasses on while also trying to button up her black dress shirt, eventually she succeeded in the mission of getting dressed and looked at herself in the mirror; she wore the same outfit as a week ago,_ this… everyday? …It'll take some getting used to all the black clothing._ Neko sighed and fastened her purple striped tie to the base of her neck and underneath her collar.

Neko checked her outfit again before walking for the door, ultimately deciding that it was too hot for the coat.

"Good morning, Neko," Kid greeted her in the hallway, smiling kindly and acting friendly, when he saw that the girl was dressed up, his brows knitted together in confusion.

"Are we supposed to be going somewhere?" His feet shifted instinctively towards his room so that if she confirmed his question, he could go get ready.

"No, your dad told me to come by the Death Room; he said that you didn't need to come." Neko explained, already on her way down the hall.

"Hm, odd… well, I'll see you later than- Liz, Patty, and me are meeting Maka, Soul, Black Star, and Tsubaki for a game of basketball down in the park." Kid said, matching pace with the girl as they walked down the stairs and crossed the room to the door.

"Sounds fun, if your dad doesn't make me take a whole day and do something or another for him, I'll come watch." Neko smiled at Kid before opening the door and leaving the house.

As Neko made her way across the courtyard she caught the figure of a boy out of the corner of her eye, she opened the door and paused to let the fellow teen catch up with her.

"Hi," Neko smiled politely at the boy, the teen paid her no notice.

"Um…" She was about to repeat her greeting when she saw a pair of scull earphones, jammed into his ears.

The boy continued to walk alongside her, perfectly content with the pace they were traveling at.

Neko took this time to observe the kid's traits. _He has blond hair, blue eyes… why does he have a priest's uniform on?_ Neko realized that the teen, whoever he was, was also heading to the Death Room.

"I- I'll… I'm gonna go." Neko shrugged and awkwardly left as the boy continued to walk down the hall unfazed.

She decided to take a different way to the Death Room and began walking down another hall.

"I've decided I'm going to marry this toilet!" Neko heard a woman speaking as she passed one of the bathrooms.

Neko came to a stop, curiosity overflowing as she wondered what the mystery woman had meant by what she said.

She retraced her steps and cracked open the door to the room.

"Hold on a second," another woman spoke up. "Let's just think this over. Wouldn't it be annoying if the toilet seat was left up?"

Neko listened and only realized at that moment that she was now standing just inside the restroom watching the scene unfold.

"Ahh," the woman sighed, "I can live with that." She swooned back and forth in happiness.

"Ah," The woman, who was dressed in a very business-like outfit, argued desperately. "Okay, but nobody's perfect- even the toilet might complain if you put more pressure on it than it can take."

The woman who was swooning, dressed in a black and yellow dress that matched her eye patch and blond hair, gasped in shock and horror as this fact was brought to her attention.

"And I hate to tell you this," The black haired woman lowered her voice. "But he can secretly spring a leak without you knowing!"

The blond woman's face turned from horror to outrage. "A_ leak_? How indecent!"

Neko watched as the woman turned furiously to the toilet that sat harmlessly and unknowing in the bathroom stall.

"It's over!" The blond shape-shifted her arm into a hammer and smashed it over the toilet. "You traitor!"

Neko stared at them in shock as she watched the water spout out of the hole where the toilet used to be.

Slowly she reopened the bathroom door and entered back into the hallway. _Who are these people? …Are they the Death Scythes? Oh goodness…_ Neko sighed as she restarted her walking, prepared to get to the Death Room within a reasonable amount of time.

She walked slowly down the path that lead under the guillotines as she approached the stage of the room.

"Please! Please, grace me with your kind words of wisdom!" Neko heard a boy's voice that seemed to be coming from the teen that Neko had seen earlier. He was standing in front of a very uncomfortable looking Lord Death.

"Um…?" Neko looked at the boy and then to Lord Death. "Who?"

"Oh, hello Neko!" Lord Death addressed the girl without turning from the other teenager. "This is Justin Law. He…" Death was cut off by Justin's begging.

The teen's hand flew up dramatically, "Oh! Great lord, why won't you speak your magnificent words so that I may hear them and completely obey?"

"…Um…" Lord Death's mask was beginning to drip with sweat, growing more and more uncomfortable an annoyed by the young death scythe.

"_OH!_ This is a_ tragedy_! I am unable to hear your voice!" Justin dropped to his knees and bowed at the shadowy figure.

"Um, actually you should…" Lord Death was starting on another hopeless attempt to tell the teen to take out his earphones.

Suddenly Spirit walked up from behind and kicked the teen to the floor.

Justin looked up, shocked at the blow he'd just received.

"Take out your earphones!" Spirit muttered and pointed to the kid's ears.

Justin stared at him for another second before pulling the music transmitters from his ear canals.

He stood up and looked at the reaper as if nothing had happened, "it's good to see you again; Justin at your service as always."

Neko watched him for another second before hearing approaching footsteps and turning around to see the blond and black haired women from the bathroom; Professor Stein accompanied them and stopped as they did.

"Thank you for coming all this way, Death Scythe's!" Lord Death addressed the many people standing on the stage. "Now than, let's get down to business. I assume you already know why I've called you to the DWMA on such short notice. "

Neko looked from Death to the other people grouped in a half circle in front of Lord Death. She noted that Spirit seemed to be especially nervous.

"The kishen Asura, former member of my personal guard, has revived." Lord Death explained. "Obviously we need to discuss this. Despite Asura's incredible strength, he's still a big old scaredy-cat. I doubt he'll make any moves this early on. This means the most pressing task for us at the moment is not determining how to counteract Asura's actions, but establishing a strategy to combat his madness wavelengths." Lord Death inclined his head as he looked at the group. "That's the real danger now."

Neko took a breath and looked at the group again.

"Stein, could you answer any questions the others might have about these wavelengths?" Lord Death addressed the scientist.

"Yes." Stein replied boringly.

"What are they exactly?" The black haired woman in the business suit piped up. "Can we consider them comparable with the soul wavelength's of the Kishen?"

"Yes. But these wavelength's are on a godly level." Stein replied.

Neko tried to stay focused, her eye's drifted up to Death.

Lord Death noticed that she was staring at him and nodded toward the group, silently advising her to pay attention.

Neko turned back to the group just in time to hear Justin speak, "than what major problem does the madness cause initially?"

"It will strengthen the wicked." The business woman piped in before Stein could answer.

"That's correct." Stein agreed, "for example; dismembering living things has always intrigued me. The madness enhances that."

Neko zoned out again, blocking out the discussion to wonder how much fun her friends must have been having while she was stuck in a meeting, it was especially boring because she had no idea why she was there.

"Neko?" Lord Death's voice rang out. "Neko?" He tried again, successfully arousing the teenager from her daydreaming.

"Yeah?" Neko looked at him.

"I've decided, as a precaution to make sure everyone stays safe, to make you and Justin partners for a little while." Lord Death bounced.

"_What_?" Neko and Justin both protested at the same time.

"Excuse me, my lord, but I work alone. That's the way it has always been. Why the sudden change?" Justin spoke politely but there was no mistaking the anger and annoyance in his eyes.

"I don't work with a weapon, why are you doing this?" Neko's rage was more apparent in her voice.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Lord Death raised his hands to signal that he was going to give an explanation.

Slowly the teen's quieted down.

"I have a feeling that the world may get more violent than it already is, very soon. You don't need to _work_ together- you only need to work together." Lord Death looked at the two kid's confused faces before sighing and going into a deeper explanation. "Things are about to get a lot more dangerous around here, I don't want people going off alone. Everyone else has a partner except for you two. All I'm asking is that you go on missions together and fight together, I do _not_ require Neko to use you, Justin, nor do I need Justin to protect and fight for you more then he needs to, Neko." He addressed the teens and sighed with relief as they both calmed down.

"You may go now." Lord Death nodded to the pair.

Justin and Neko turned around and left the Death room, splitting off to go their separate ways, no spite or annoyance between them.

_ Okay, not as bad as I thought._ Neko walked quickly down the hall._ I thought he was making me use a weapon! …There's no time to worry about that now; I have a basketball game to get to._ Neko picked up her pace and began jogging through the hall, set on watching at least part of the game.


	30. Basketball

** Chapter 30: Basketball (Helping Maka, Meeting Justin?)**

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><p>Neko had slowed her jogging pace back down to a walk and wondered the streets as she looked for the park. <em>It probably would've helped if I'd asked which park he meant… or even where the park was!<em> Neko mentally kicked herself while searching for the mentioned park.

She was about to turn around and go back to the school to ask Lord Death to find her when she noticed Spirit walking briskly down the street.

"Hey! Hey, Death Scythe!" Neko waved her hand above her head as she ran to the red headed weapon.

Spirit stopped walking upon seeing her and waited for her to catch up.

"Do you know where the park is?" Neko asked, exhaustion and hope filled her eyes.

"I was actually just on my way over there; if you want we can walk together." Spirit smiled politely.

"Oh, well thanks, sure." Neko nodded and they slowly began their trek through streets Neko hadn't been to before.

"So, um…" Spirit seemed to want to ask something but couldn't find the words.

"Yes?" Neko didn't stop walking but looked up at the man.

"Do you have any ideas of how I could get my darling Maka to like me?" It was Spirit's turn to look helpless and despite.

"Well…" Neko looked troubled by the question. "You could stop hanging around other women." Neko suggested, "see, Maka thinks you're a pervert… while she's not completely wrong… she… look;" she stopped and looked at the weapon. "Your daughter hates you. I hate to say it like that, but that's the way it is. I don't know that she'll ever absolutely _love_ you, but she might grow to like you."

Spirit's shoulders slumped.

Neko gave no notice and continued; "please note that whenever she's in a huge problem or is truly hurt- she comes to you, to talk, ask questions, to get a hug. Somewhere, she still thinks of you as a father-figure… she doesn't respect you. You need to calm down to counteract this problem, you see; whenever she asks you for something you completely overreact. You need to stop doing that." Neko began walking again.

Spirit looked at her, "so in a nutshell; stop hanging out with other women so that I don't seem like a… like a pervert, and calm down so that I don't overreact when she asks me for something?"

"Exactly." Neko nodded and looked up at him with a gently reassuring smile, "you'll be okay. She might not _love_ you but she doesn't hate you as much as it's made out to look like."

"Thanks." Spirit looked up, "we're here."

Neko looked ahead and saw her friends playing basketball, she also realized that Maka was failing horribly at even grasping the very _idea_ of the game.

"Hey!" Spirit leaned down next to Stein. "What're they doing here? I thought we told them to stay at home and rest."

Neko left the death weapon's side and walked to the opposite side of the court.

Soul had the ball and everyone except for Maka was trying desperately to guard the other players and steal the ball away at the same time.

Soul shot and Black Star jumped up at the last second and blocked the ball. The orange sphere bounce to the ground and had no one make an effort to pick it up from it's spot on the blacktop.

"Game over!" Soul announced. "Final score: 20 to 4! Maka's team loses."

Maka paled as she suddenly looked sick and filled with dread, Kid seemed the opposite; he was utterly relieved. The rest of the group just chanted happily; "Punishment! Punishment! Punishment!"

Neko was wondering what was going on as she watched Maka walk shyly up to her father, Black Star and Soul laughing behind her.

"Kid, what's going on?" Neko walked up to the casually dressed boy.

"Oh, hello Neko!" He instantly broke out into a smile when he saw her next to him. "What, that? Oh, we made bets for the teams… dares really. If my team lost, all of my poor pictures would've been destroyed of all symmetry! If Maka's team lost…" Kid took a deep breath. "She needs to ask her dad to go to the mall with her on Saturday."

Neko knew it was awful but she couldn't help but choke as a giggle erupted in her throat, the thought of Maka needing to do that just cracked her up inside.

She looked across the court to see Spirit look at her with love and happiness before turning around and throwing up on the most nearby tree. _Smooth._ Neko sighed and gave the man a dead-pan glare. _Really smooth._

Maka rubbed her father's back with concern before running off to apparently find medicine.

"Well, we better get back to the apartment, you know; me on the way to surpassing god- I need to eat." Black Star folded his hands behind his head. "Come on, Tsubaki!"

"Coming!" Tsubaki turned back to the rest of the group and smiled, "thanks for the game, it was fun. We'll have to do it again sometime." She turned away and ran to catch up with her miester, waving goodbye as she did.

"Hey, Black Star, can I borrow your ball for a bit?" Neko shouted after him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, go ahead." Black Star shrugged and kept walking after he realized that he'd never picked it up in the first place.

"We should get going as well." Kid nodded goodbye to Soul.

"I'm going to stay for awhile, I'll be back later." Neko smiled and waved.

"I'll see you later then." Kid smiled before accompanying Patty to walk home.

Neko turned to Soul and looked at the still ball sitting on the concrete a few feet away, "hey, do you want to play a little one-on-one while we wait for Maka?"

Soul stared at her with both friendliness and indifference, "why are_ you_ waiting for Maka?"

"I was thinking about teaching her a little bit of how to play basketball." Neko stride across a short distance and picked up the smooth rubber ball.

Soul chuckled, "good luck with that." He bent forward slightly as he waited for her move.

"We play until Maka gets back; person with the most points wins… full court game." She added the statement as an afterthought.

"Ready when you are," Soul smirked as he watched the girl bend down in front of him, dribbling the ball and watching him at the same time.

Soul stepped forward and brought his hand out to swipe the ball in a quick and skilled manner.

Neko spun around him and ran towards her end of the court, making it half way across before Soul was recovered and on her again.

"Ha!" Soul ran around her and stole the ball, putting distance between them as he ran for his basket.

Neko ran up behind him and leapfrogged over the boy's head, stealing the ball while the boy recovered from shock.

"Hey!" It clicked in Soul's mind that she'd just stole the ball and turned around to see Neko at half court, arms up, hands bent, and the ball swishing through the basket net without touching the rim.

"Woah." Soul's eyes opened wide at the sight of this.

"Wow, nice job… girl!" The blond haired woman sitting next to Stein applauded her.

Stein leaned over and whispered something in her ear.

"Oh, Neko! Nice job, Neko." The woman smiled and clapped her hands to show her enthusiasm.

"Your ball." Neko tossed the ball to the weapon and bent over slightly, preparing for his offence.

Soul began dribbling and faked running to the right, he twisted around Neko to the left, using the same trick he had on Black Star, and ran.

Neko chased him down the court and jumped, the ball rolling over her fingers as she cleared just enough height to block the ball from entering the hoop.

The ball hit the ground before the girl and Soul had time to grab the bouncing ball, right himself, aim, and shoot the ball, while Neko fell through the air and was just starting to land.

"Gah!" Neko lunged to the left to block Soul but realized that the attempt was useless as Soul had just shot the ball.

Both Neko and Soul watched as the smooth ball swerved on the rim twice before dropping in.

"I'm back! I'm back, Papa!" Maka ran around the wall with one hand closed into a fist and the other holding a sloshing bottle of water.

"No, really, I'm fine!" Spirit protested but took the water and small white pills anyways.

Soul and Neko stood next to each other, the ball bouncing away barely noticed.

"Hey Soul!" Maka turned and smiled at her weapon and then looked at the reaper beside him, "hey Neko, what're you still doing here?"

Neko smirked, "I'm going to teach you basketball."

Maka looked at her in disbelief, "really?"

Neko nodded.

"Okay…" Maka sounded unsure that she wanted anything to do with the sport anymore.

"Yeah, well, you two girls have fun, I'm going home. Besides, staying to watch a girl try to teach another one b-ball… _way_ not cool." Soul left the park with that comment.

"We'd better be going too, we need to get Marie settled into my lab." Stein stood up and nodded to everyone before turning to walk away, arm wrapped around the woman's shoulder.

"Bye everyone! It's been fun!" Marie smiled and waved before also turning around.

"I… I could stay here and-" Spirit started.

"Um," Neko saw the annoyance building up on Maka's face. "It's probably best if you don't."

"Oh…" Spirit's face fell and he slowly trudged out of the park, he turned around at the gate and looked at the teen's with sad puppy eyes.

"Go." Neko reinforced her suggestion with an obvious command.

Spirit turned away and dragged his feet until he was out of sight.

"Okay; I'm not going to go into a huge explanation and make your brain explode with rules, regulations, defense moves, offence moves, and so on and so forth." Neko faced Maka, the ball held under her arm.

Maka nodded and seemed to relax a little more.

"First- lets work on dribbling." Neko began to bounce the ball, pushing it back down with her fingers every time it came back up. "You see, I don't use my hand, I use the pads of my fingers and the curve that's made between my fingers and my palm. You bounce it between hip and waist height." Neko stopped bouncing and held the ball out of the ashy blond to take it.

Maka grabbed the ball and looked at it, as if believing that all the answers to the game were inside or written in small writing around the rubber.

"Right now I want you to concentrate on keeping it under control while you bounce it." Neko nodded as a sign for her to start.

Maka bounced it on the ground and did as Neko had shown her, using her fingers to handle the ball while bouncing it in front of her.

"Good, now, in the next few bounces I want you to keep the ball bouncing but switch hands; I want you to start dribbling with your left hand." Neko watched as Maka quickly threw her left arm up as she threw her right arm to her side, she began bouncing the ball with her left hand.

"You're doing wonderful, Maka," Neko applauded her but did nothing to big as it would distract the nervous girl. "Now, dribble the ball back and forth, once with your right hand, once with your left, and so on."

Maka was staring at the ball with more confidence and determination, bouncing the ball once with each hand, making the rubber sphere bounce in a 'V' shape.

"Now walk." Neko ordered.

Maka took small shuffling steps at first but slowly began to stride across the court.

"You're a fast learner, Maka, now I'll teach you how to pass;" Neko clapped and opened her hands, signaling for the other girl to pass the ball.

Maka threw the ball at Neko, it dived into her stomach as she curled her arms around it, making sure that it didn't fall and roll away.

"Okay well, there are two main kinds of passes; the bounce pass and the chest pass. The name sort of explains the way you pass." Neko held the ball to her chest, "this is a chest pass; you hold it up to chest height and pass it to the other person, aiming for their chests." Neko passed the ball to Maka.

"Oh," Maka nodded and copied the movements as she passed it back to the other person.

"You're a very fast learner Maka, I was worried that this would take hours but you've learned all of this in fifteen minutes." Neko praised the girl that was currently her student.

"Thanks for teaching me." Maka smiled.

"That's what friends are for, aren't they?" Neko smiled back before resuming her lesson, "Now, a bounce pass is also pretty easy; aim it to bounce between you and the other person."

The ball bounced on the blacktop between them and flew into Maka's hands.

"Good afternoon, all." A boy's voice called out to the girls.

Neko recognized the voice and outfit immediately.

"Good afternoon, Justin." Neko nodded to him and glanced back at Maka in time to catch the ball that she had bounced to her.

"How are you?" Justin politely asked the teens.

"We're fine," Neko saw that Maka was confused. "Maka, this is Justin Law, he's a death scythe and he'll be working with me for awhile." Neko explained, motioning to the boy who paid no notice to them, gazing off into space with his earphones jammed into his ears.

"Oh, cool, well, I'll get going," Maka figured that Neko had just met him and that maybe the reaper wanted some time to get to know her new weapon partner.

"Um, okay, I'll bring the ball back to Black Star; he's on my way home anyways." Neko smiled.

"Thanks!" Maka waved goodbye before running out of the park and turning in the direction of her apartment.

"Oh, she left?" Justin stared blankly at the gate Maka had run out of.

Neko tapped the boy's shoulder; nothing happened Neko tapped his shoulder again; still he was zoned out.

She sighed with frustration before wrapping her fingers nimbly around the earphone wires and giving a sharp tug, efficiently ripping them out of his head and filling the air around them with music.

"Hey!" Justin turned and looked at her, obviously upset.

Neko waved her hand, using her electricity to find his mp3 player and shut it off.

"_Hey_!" Justin's voice began to sound angrier.

"Why are you here?" Neko ignored his icy glare and waited for his reply.

"I was simply going for a walk and happened to see you here, I thought that it would be kind to say hello since we're now partners, so I came in." Justin explained, putting aside the irritation that his music was no longer playing.

Neko sighed.

"Well, since I've said my greetings, I'll be going." Justin nodded to her politely and began to turn away.

"Wait!" Neko took a step toward him.

"Yes?" Justin turned around and seemed genuinely concerned about her.

"Could you help me get home? I don't know how to from here." Neko requested shyly.

"Where are you staying?" Justin looked around.

"I'm living in Lord Death's house." Neko figured that for some reason Justin would know where that was.

"Oh!" Justin nodded with understanding.

"So you know how to get there?" Neko felt the weight of worry lift from her shoulders.

"No." Justin replied honestly.

"Oh." The weights had been lifted only to be dropped back on top of her.

"But I can get you back to the school from here, I'm sure you can find your way home from there." Justin smiled, plugged his headphones back into his ears, took out his mp3 and turned his music on, and began walking at a leisurely pace out of the park.

Neko took careful landmarks as she walked closely behind the weapon; a house, a store, an oddly angled tree.

"So, do you normally work alone?" Justin was close to shouting and for some reason it took a few seconds for Neko to realize that he was talking to her.

"Yeah. You?" Neko nodded, remembering someone saying something about him being able to read lips.

"Yeah, I work alone!" Justin yelled obliviously.

"Shh!" Neko brought her finger up to her lips.

"Sorry!" Justin yelled and then corrected himself; "Sorry." He spoke in a normal volume.

"What kind of weapon are you?" Neko's curiosity had gotten the best of her as she had heard about how very few weapons could work alone.

"I'm a guillotine." Justin replied casually.

"Whoa." Neko had never heard of a guillotine weapon either._ Either the weapons are as rare as I think they are, or I'm going deaf._

"And you?" Justin returned the question.

"Huh?" Neko was confused. _Is he asking me what kind of weapon I use… didn't I tell him I work alone?_

"Well you work by yourself, don't you? How do you do that?" Justin further explained his question.

"I use electricity." Neko shrugged.

"Really?" Justin sounded amazed and unbelieving at the same time.

"Yeah." Neko brought her hand up and allowed small sparks and lines of lightning to dance around her fingertips.

"Cool." Justin smiled and stopped, waving in front of him and shrugging; "we're here."

Neko looked away from him and realized that they were back in front of the school.

"Well, I'll see you some other time." Justin smiled politely before turning around and walking away in the direction they'd come from.

Neko watched him with confusion before realizing that he had taken the time to help her, even though it had obviously meant a much longer walk for him to his destination.

"Thanks!" Neko shouted after him, but it was obvious that he hadn't heard her, his music turned up as loud as it would go.

Neko sighed and walked away from the school, she passed building after building, street after street, before arriving at her destination.

"Hey! Black Star!" Neko shouted up, projecting her voice toward the open balcony door of the apartment.

"Who dares interrupt the great and almighty Black Star during his dinner?" Black Star immerged dramatically into the balcony, bits of rice flying from his mouth as he tried to shout and chew at the same time. He looked down to the street and saw the reaper staring up at him with an amused smile, under one arm was a basketball. "Oh, hey Neko."

"Hi, Black Star." Neko smiled and waved politely. "Thank you for letting me borrow your ball."

"Yeah, sure, no problem." Black Star nodded his mouth now empty. "So can Maka play now? Did you get any sense into her at all about the sport?"

"Yeah, she can dribble pretty well…" She added as an afterthought, "never as well as you, of course."

Black Star let out a proud laugh, "yes! For I'm the powerful Black Star! And no one will ever defeat me!"

"Yeah, okay, here's your ball back." Neko held the ball up.

"Ready." Black Star nodded.

Neko tossed it with ease and it landed softly in the egomaniac's hands.

"Thanks." Black Star nodded. "G' night."

"Good night, Black Star." Neko nodded back before beginning her travels back to Gallows' Manor.

_Today's been long, fun, but long… I need to get home and rest- I think I heard from somewhere that there's a new student starting tomorrow._


	31. Crona's First Day

_Hello, hello, hello! Hey, I'd like to give a very specal shout out to **jgal747**! Thank you for your encouraging words!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 31: Crona's First Day (First Mission with Justin?)<strong>

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><p>"Professor Stein?" Neko cracked open the door to the medical room and saw the grey haired man sitting in his swivel chair, unmoving and unresponding.<p>

"Professor Stein?" Neko walked closer to him, concerned about what the man might be doing.

Stein suddenly burst out of his chair and threw a punch toward Neko.

Neko used her quick and nimbleness to duck out of reach of the man's hand, his knuckles barely grazing her cheek.

Stein stood there panting for a second, staring off into another spot in the room, before snapping out of whatever had bothered him and looking around to see Neko standing by the curtains of the ward.

"Neko? What are you doing here?" Stein straitened his lab coat.

"I- I needed to ask you a question." Neko stated, her voice giving away how confused and nervous she was.

"Yes?" Stein straightened up.

"Who is this new student?" Neko saw that the scientist was becoming more relaxed but didn't let her guard down on the idea of him swinging another fist at her.

"You'll meet him today." Stein obviously wanted her to leave.

"Yes, I know, but what's his name? Is he a miester or a weapon?" Neko was growing annoyed, she only wanted basic information on the kid.

"His name is Crona. You'd know him from your last mission with Kid; he fights with the demon sword Ragnarok." Stein explained before waving his hand in a shooing motion.

Neko left the medical ward without a word, not wanting to hold the professor from whatever she'd been interrupting him from.

"Hey, Neko!" Neko turned on the stairwell to see Maka and Death Scythe Marie walking down the stairs, a black mass with pink hair, obviously a person trying to hide, crouched next to them.

"Oh, hello Maka, Death Scythe Marie-" Neko greeted.

"Just call me Miss. Marie." The weapon interrupted.

"Okay, Miss. Marie," Neko nodded with understanding. "And who is this?" Neko looked at the black and pink mass, already knowing who he was but wanting to humor Maka by letting her introduce the shy miester.

"This? This is Crona." Maka set a calming hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Crona, stand up, meet Neko."

"O-okay…" The boy stood up, took one frightened look at Neko and ran behind Maka for protection.

"Crona, what's wrong?" Maka tried to turn to see the boy but was held in place by his tight gripping on her clothing.

"Kid and I… fought him… on our last mission." Neko explained carefully, not wanting to be asked to explain Kid's over-reaction to fighting him or her under-reaction.

"Oh, well, um…" Maka was looking for a way to respond.

"Maka, sit down." Neko ordered calmly.

"What?" Maka looked at the reaper.

"Just sit down." Neko repeated.

"What? But… Crona," Maka pointed behind herself.

Neko nodded deeply, "just sit down."

Maka sat, revealing Crona to be crouched inches above her head.

The boy yelped in fright as he saw that Neko was staring at him, he turned to run but something about the girl held him back. Crona turned to look at the brown haired girl with the bronze rimmed glasses and dark, formal clothing.

"Hello, Crona." Neko smiled and spoke softly, somehow being able to be heard over the loud clamor of the hallway. "How have you been?" The reapers eye's showed that she was truly concerned.

"Um… w-what?" Crona lifted his head to look at Neko better.

"Are you feeling okay? After the fight you didn't look so well, I saw you when me and Lord Death were walking to his house." Neko explained.

"Y-yeah… I want to go back to my corner though." Crona explained.

"Why? Don't you like being with friends?" Neko slowly sat on the step next to Crona, surprised when he didn't run or jump up.

"No. I don't know how to deal with friends." Crona shivered.

"Oh, well, you better learn fast." Neko smiled but kept her voice calm.

"Why?" Crona looked suddenly alarmed and looked around as if something was going to attack him.

"Why? Because so far I count… one, two, three people who already consider you a friend." Neko's smile widened.

"Three? Who?" Crona looked worried, amazed, and scared all at the same time.

"Well, there's Miss. Marie, there's Maka, and there's me." Neko explained.

"R-really? You want to be my friend?" Crona's head lifted further from his shoulders.

"Of course, that is, if you'll let me." Neko offered her hand for him to take.

Crona stared at the hand for a second before leaning away, acting as if the hand was preparing to bite him. "No! You're go to electrocute me!" Crona cried uncomfortably.

"Why would I? I have no reason to, besides; have I ever done that before?" Neko didn't drop her hand but pulled it closer to her body.

"N-no." Crona didn't move.

"Well, it's okay." Neko smiled happily, not put out at all by the fact that the boy didn't want to fully trust her yet.

"Let's get going on this tour, huh Maka?" Neko stood up and slapped the back of her pants, dusting off any dirt that had decided to cling to her clothes.

"Oh, yeah." Maka stood up and began walking down the stairs again, Marie and Neko followed her politely while Crona picked up his mission of sneaking along the wall alongside the group.

They walked past the mission assigning wall and to the main balcony outside, Neko looked back to see Maka pushing Crona. She thought briefly of picking the boy up using her electricity but instantly shoved it from her mind when she realized what horrible effects it could do to Crona's trust and bravery.

"Come on, Crona." Maka stood looking over the balcony, she had finally gotten the boy across the terrace and wanted him to see the view.

Neko almost confided to the teen that by acting the way he was, he was drawing more attention than if he acted normal, but again stopped herself, worried that it would cause him to panic.

"Quit hiding, there's nothing to be afraid of here." Maka continued to try to persuade the un-persuadable boy.

Crona looked at her for a second before standing and peaking over the edge of the stone wall, when he realized what he was looking at wasn't dangerous, he stood up fully and took in the beautiful sight of the city and desert.

"It's quite amazing, isn't it?" Neko spoke softly.

Crona looked over to realize that he had positioned himself between Maka and Neko, he jumped toward Maka for a second but then, remembering Neko's previous words about friendship, he relaxed.

Crona looked over to see that Neko was leaning on the wall, supported by her hands on the top of it. He hesitantly reached out and placed his hand on top of hers, remembering how she had offered her hand as a sign of being friends before.

Neko looked down at the sudden weight atop her hand and realized that Crona had placed his hand on hers, she stared at it for a second before chuckling lightly and patting his hand with her other.

"Thank you, Crona. You're a good friend." Neko smiled and continued to look out at the desert, allowing his hand to rest lightly on top of hers.

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><p>"Well, how do you like our humble academy so far?" Soul sat relaxed on the uprising of the floor next to the teacher's desk, the teens were grouped into an unused classroom.<p>

"No, this place is diffidently not for me." Crona stared at the floor, uncomfortable and depressed.

"You're just a little nervous." Marie chided happily, "you'll be fine, don't worry."

Crona tore away from the group at a frantic speed and curled into a ball near a corner of the classroom. "Uh-uh! I can't deal with this! I want to go back to my corner." He whimpered helplessly.

"Maybe a nice, hard, _kick_ would help!" Soul growled as he went to attack the boy.

"Down boy!" Maka scolded the weapon and tossed him back.

Neko caught him by the collar and brought him closer so that only he could hear her.

"Touch Crona, and what happened the Black Star on the day I started school here, will happen to you…_ tenfold_." Neko released his shirt.

Soul backed away and looked at the reaper, the girl stared back at him with her common, small, sweet, smile, looking at him innocently. _Was she joking? …Better not risk it._ Soul sat down and just watched the scene.

"Oh, hey, I know what would help! Why not write some poetry?" Maka sat by the pink haired boy. "How does that sound?"

"Oh, shoot, you've gotta be kidding me!" Soul laughed hysterically in the background.

Maka stared at him for a second before hitting him in the head with a spare book.

"I write poems a lot when something's bothering me, it really helps." Maka started speaking to the boy again, not noticing that Crona was staring at her weapon's limp form instead.

"Oh, come on, how much more emo can you possibly get?" Soul was bent over the desk, laughing again. "You can talk to me if there's something wrong, you know?"

Maka stared at him angrily before slamming the book so hard across the back of his head that it broke the desk beneath him.

"Why don't we try writing a poem together?" Maka suggested.

Crona looked at her from over his shoulder. "If you say so, I guess I could give it a try."

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><p>Maka, Marie, and Neko chatted happily while waiting for the boy to finish his writing assignment.<p>

"But Maka, I didn't know that you write poetry." Neko cocked her head slightly as she stared quizzically at the girl.

"Oh, yeah, I do it a lot." Maka blushed.

"Interesting." Neko nodded.

Maka stared at her for a second before letting a question that had been clouding her brain for weeks, spill out. "Why do you do that? How do you do that?"

Neko was confused by the question. "What? What am I doing?"

"You've always done it." Maka continued, "You ask a question and wait to get just enough of an answer and then stop. You don't keep asking questions."

"I can tell when someone's getting nervous. I don't want them to feel uncomfortable when answering my questions. If someone answers it enough, I'll be content and leave it at that- if someone wants to further explain themselves, I'll gladly listen… but I don't need it." Neko explained.

"But you know how to talk to people! You got Crona to trust you after a few minutes even though his first impression of you was that you wanted to kill him." Maka stared at her in bafflement.

"First; I _never_ said or did anything that implied that I wanted to do any harm to Crona while kid and I were on that mission. Second; I guess it's a talent I have, I know when people need a quiet voice, a loud voice, and what tone they need it set in. Crona was really nervous, so I figured that a quiet voice with a happy and friendly tone was what he needed." Neko explained without getting defensive and looked over Maka's shoulder at something beyond her.

Maka turned around to see Crona trembling as he held the paper up for Maka to take.

"Are you all done?" Maka smiled.

Crona shook and gave a quick, scared nod, "Yeah."

Maka happily took the paper and began to read the poem.

"I wanna see!" Marie looked over the miesters shoulder.

"This is so stupid." Soul scoffed.

The two women focused intently on the paper.

"So… how is it?" Crona fidgeted nervously.

Maka and Marie suddenly turned and proceeded to sit in the corner.

"This makes me with I had never been born." Maka stated depressively.

"I-I know… it's so- so sad." Marie agreed.

The door burst open loudly to reveal Black Star.

"Hiya guys! What're you lame-o's doing in here?" Black Star shouted obnoxiously as he walked deeper into the room.

Neko looked over to see Crona trying not to cower in fear at the loud teen.

"The weather's _amazing_, we shouldn't be locked up in school; let's get going!" Black Star looked at the depressed figures of Maka and Marie. "Well, I guess it does get gloomy without Black Star around, but fear not, now that I'm here; the sun has come out from behind the clouds."

_ Oh, brother._ Neko rolled her eyes and sent a reassuring smile in Crona's direction.

Soul held out the piece of paper that Crona had written his poem on, "Read this." He commanded.

Black Star looked down at the paper and was silent as he read the apparently depressing poem. He walked over and joined Marie and Maka when he was done, "I wish I'd never been born!"

"What's so horrible about a stupid poem?" Soul looked at the page.

"So?" Neko studied his face before the boy dropped the paper and sat with the growing group in the corner.

"I wish that I'd never been born." Soul muttered.

_What is up with this?_ Neko picked up the paper as Crona walked over and joined the group in their sadness.

"I wish that I'd never come back to life!" Another voice moped.

Neko looked up from the paper to see the zombie, Sid, crouched next to the group.

"What the heck Sid? When did you get in here?" Soul asked what had come to Neko's mind.

Neko finished reading the poem and walked over to the group, she crouched next to Crona, "pretty good for your first poem, a bit depressing though, don't you think?"

Maka looked up at her, "how can you not hate your life? How can that not leave you depressed?"

Neko smiled and stood up, walking over to Maka. "I've experienced worse things than this poem talks about."

"But… it talks about abandonment… and abuse… and… and sadness!" Maka whined.

"Well, I've experienced some pretty bad things in my time… besides, it's a good poem." Neko grabbed Maka's arm and pulled her to her feet, efficiently snapping Maka out of her depression.

* * *

><p>Neko sighed as she settled into a comfortable seating position with a thick book on lightning and soul-wavelength-manipulation-techniques that she had found in the level-3-miester's section.<p>

Neko read and read, never stopping for breaks of any kind. She devoured all information on new techniques and savored when the book had pictures demonstrating the acts. She turned the page at one point and realized that she had tore her way through over half of the multi-hundred page book, but just smiled at this fact and kept reading.

"Neko?" She heard a familiar voice call out.

"Yes?" Neko looked at the priest who was calling her name.

"Ah, there you are, Lord Death wants to see us in the Death Room." Justin had a confused look on his face.

"Okay, why are you looking at me like that?" Neko looked around to see if there was anything wrong.

"Well, I just find where you're sitting to be odd." Justin explained.

"Why, it's just a window sill." Neko shrugged.

Justin's face cracked into a smile. "It's not the fact that you're sitting in a window sill that confuses me, it's the fact that this said window sill is thirty feet off the ground that scares me."

"Oh." Neko realized how this would look odd to most people.

"May I ask how you got up there?" Justin inquired.

"I used my electricity to push myself up." Neko smiled.

"Ah, such an everyday occurrence to see." Justin's sense of humor shined through.

"Yes, and it will get more casual as you spend more time with me." Neko held the book and threw her feet over the edge of the sill.

"Really?" Justin watched as she pounced from the edge and landed softly beside him.

"Yes, really. I mean, my name means _Cat_ in Japanese, you know." Neko spoke softly as she straightened up and began her walk to the Death Room.

"Indeed, it does." Justin followed closely behind the reaper.

"So, why does he want to see us?" Neko walked softly and had to turn her head every time she asked something or replied to another thing so that the boy could read her lips.

"I'm not sure, but he'll probably debrief us when we get there." Justin answered.

"Yeah." Neko shrugged and let them walk in silence, the only sound being that of footsteps the two of them created.

They walked down the pathway that put itself under the guillotines and stepped onto the stage where Lord Death stood.

"Hello, hello, hello! Glad you're here!" Lord Death bounced around with an unusually chirpy voice.

Justin only bowed in response. "Oh, my lord, what is your command? Say it and it shall be done, great and merciful one!"

Neko sighed with annoyance before using her electricity to shut down him mp3.

"Stop doing that!" Justin ripped himself from his position and glared at the shorter girl.

"Well than turn it off yourself! The guy has a mask- you can't read his lips!" Neko shot back with equal frustration.

"Hey, hey, hey now!" Lord Death held up his hands as he spoke, getting ready to separate them if needed.

"Sorry, what did you need?" Neko dropped the subject and turned to Lord Death.

"Yes, what is your bidding, oh powerful one?" Justin also dropped the subject and turned to Death.

"It seems that Maka and Crona are heading into some more trouble than we bargained for in the Czech Republic, I want you to go help them." Lord Death bounced around.

"Yes, sir." Neko and Justin nodded at the same time and turned, running off for their first mission together.


	32. Fighting Giriko

**Chapter 32: Fighting Giriko (Using Justin?)**

* * *

><p>Justin stepped on the brakes of his dune buggy, causing the machine to squeal to a stop while the techno music still shook the area around it with its heavy base beat.<p>

The villagers looked up at the older teen clad in priest robes and the short haired girl who looked around with an oddly happy air about her.

"I wonder…" Justin looked around before looking back at Neko. "Is one coffin going to be enough for this job?"

Neko smirked, "There's only one way to find out."

Justin returned the sly smile, "I agree."

"Well, it seems that Maka and Crona are that way… along with a powerful witch and vengeful enchanter." Neko looked off into the distance before looking around the air, "This wasn't in the job description!" She knew that Lord Death was watching from somewhere.

Neko and Justin walked quickly and suddenly saw what was making the loud racket; a man that was obviously a weapon was attacking Crona.

Neko's eye's opened wide as she watched the chainsaw weapon ride up the demon blade. "Justin; stop him!"

Justin ran forward and threw himself into the fight just as the man was about to kill Crona.

"Nice try! Safe Cross Knife!" Justin hit the man and separated the weapon from the meister.

"Crona, are you okay?" Neko ran up to the pink haired boy and picked him onto his feet.

"Y-yeah…" Crona stuttered with fear.

"Who the heck are _you_?" Giriko growled.

Justin didn't answer but stood protectively over Crona. Neko stood up and walked to his side, also keeping her mouth shut.

The man muttered to himself before trying to get an answer again; "Quite impressive, but who are you anyway?"

Neither of them answered.

"Fine! We'll fight then!" The chains around the man's legs roared to life again.

Neko stared at him for a second before lifting her foot and stomping it back into the ground with a loud _thud_.

The man flew into the air and landed painfully. "Ah! What the heck did you do?"

Neko didn't answer._ Electricity waves; a large amount of electricity that an electricity miester can force into the ground and shoot at whoever they're aiming for… reading books comes in handy._ Neko smirked as she went over the technique in her mind.

The man yelled something that Neko didn't catch and began charging his soul, Justin was doing the same.

The two males charged and met each other in the middle of the courtyard.

Giriko kicked multiple blows at the young death scythe, only to have them all blocked by his opponent.

He leaped into the air and allowed more chains to come from his body, as he fell he aimed for the boy, crushing down on him with his techniques.

Neko saw that Justin was struggling to keep his footing, but saw too late that the chain master had the upper hand and threw the guillotine across the stone yard.

"Now with that brat out of the way, let's finish these ones!" Giriko looked toward Maka and Crona.

"No!" Neko was in front of the group before anyone could blink and she threw a thick, blue orb of lightning at the miester and weapon, sending him several feet back.

The man recovered quickly and charged at the unmoving girl.

"Come on, Justin!" Neko stood protectively in front of Maka and Crona, stretching out her arm and summoning the weapon to come to her.

Justin sprinted towards her but skidded to a stop, nearly losing his balance along the way, when he heard a horrified scream just ahead of him.

Giriko's chain brought a thick spray of blood from Neko's outreached arm.

Neko also looked around for the source of the scream, briefly wondering if it had been herself, she realized suddenly that it had been Crona who screamed when he saw her arm getting attacked by the chainsaw emitting from the enchanter's leg.

"Weak brat!" Giriko kicked Neko across her chest, sending her flying across the cobblestone.

Neko groaned and looked up from her spot on the ground to see the man charging at her again, seemingly forgetting about Maka and Crona for the moment.

"Justin Law, let's _go_!" Neko ordered and reached out her hand, still watching as the chainsaw weapon continued his approach on her.

Without hesitation the guillotine transformed and flew into her hand, creating a weapon that consisted of a guillotine blade that swung at the end of a long, thick, metal chain.

Neko jumped to her feet and held the chain in front of herself just in time, blocking the chainsaw with the hefty metal and sending sparks flying around them.

Neko twisted the chain so that the blade flew at Giriko's head while she still blocked the whirling blades that were trying desperately to get to her.

"Whoa!" The man dodged out of the way just in time, putting multiple meters between him and his opponent. "You idiot! You could've killed me!"

"That was the point." Neko stated bluntly and swung the blade, she allowed it to carry the chain around her. The chains wrapped around her, looping from her shoulder to her hip and over again, the blade landed in her free hand when it was done.

"You think you're so cool, handling your weapon that you've used for_ years_?" Giriko frowned and stepped forward threateningly.

"Actually," Neko chuckled. "This is the first time I've ever handled this weapon, let alone used it in battle."

"Then you're inapt to use him?" Giriko smirked.

Neko shrugged, "There's a first time for everything." She pulled at the chain and stood still as it unwound, bunching up into a pile next to her.

"Justin, shorten the chain length, please." Neko ordered politely.

As the chains fell to the ground less and less seemed to fall, creating the visual illusion of the chain folding into itself.

Once it finished coiling itself from Neko's body, it laid on the ground motionlessly.

"Oh, yeah, whatcha gonna do now?" The man's body seemed to vibrate with the saw's around his legs.

Neko flashed the chain up and down, creating a chain reaction that made the weapon seem more whip-like.

The reaper ran forward and flashed the bladed whip in front of her; Giriko dodged at the last second and felt the cold steel cut across his cheek.

Giriko growled and ran at the girl, throwing large chains at her.

Neko jumped and flipped, dodging each ripping link as it tried to attack her. Neko leaped back, clearing the attack and stood back between the weapon and her friends.

"Justin! Soul Resonance!" Neko felt her and Justin's souls intermingle.

There was a heavy beat that mixed with rap and techno music suddenly in the air. Neko stood confused for a second before realizing that she could hear Justin's music due to the strong resonance link.

"Let's go!" Neko ran at the enchanter and waved the, now spiked, chain at him.

Giriko dodged to the right.

Neko flipped over him to attack him from behind.

Giriko saw that the chain was wrapping around the area he stood in and jumped away just before the chain closed in, ready to constrict the enemy.

Neko grabbed Giriko's shirt and punched him across the face, the spiked chains that had been wrapped around her knuckles bit deeply into his cheek.

Giriko allowed saws to appear across his chest, ripping through Neko's hand and lower arm.

"Ah!" Neko fell back in surprise and pain.

"Oh, no you don't!" Giriko swung his leg out to kick the girl in the head.

"Neck Shackle Guard!" A boy's voice appeared between the two fighters, a thick black shackle locked around the shocked man's leg.

Justin grabbed the top of Giriko's shirt, avoiding the chains and pulling him closer to his target. "Head butt of_ love_!" Justin slammed the top of his head into Giriko's face.

"Ah! You dirty brat!" Giriko placed his hand on the ground and let the glove twist the two of them in a circle. He threw his legs underneath the older teen and kicked him away, sending the boy flying across the courtyard.

Giriko flipped himself over and skidded slightly while landing.

Neko stood up and glanced over at the resting group before glaring back at the man in front of her.

"Neko, are you alright?" Justin called across the yard, ignoring the man in between them.

Neko nodded and shifted her feet, getting ready to send out a lightning bolt. She threw her hand forward to send out the electricity and suddenly collapsed to the ground.

"Neko!" Maka willed herself to run over to the shivering girl but knew that she couldn't.

"Ha! See, your girl here is weak!" Giriko pointed at the girl behind him. "Why don't you take off those dang earphones already? You're not listening to a single word I'm saying you cocky brat!"

Justin chuckled. "I can read your lips," He explained, "I don't have to hear you… such a filthy mouth, quite shocking." He smirked at the man's face and tried to hide his concern for the still girl that lay just beyond him.

"You've been reading my lips this whole_ time_? So you purposefully pretended that you couldn't hear me? Now you're really ticking me off!" Giriko felt his anger sky-rocket.

"Giriko," a woman sitting on the large, rocky, creature called out his name.

"_Whatdya want, lady_!" Giriko turned around and exploded at the witch.

"I detest children who shout. Shouldn't you know that by now?" The witch stated casually.

"How can I help you, ma'am?" The man's mood and demeanor changed instantly and he smiled politely at the woman.

Justin frowned at the two enemies; their mouths were either covered or their faces turned._ How am I supposed to know what they're saying? I need to get to Neko… but I can't!_ He sighed in frustration at the problems at hand.

The man suddenly caught the witch and used his chainsaw's to power away from the group.

"Hold it! There's no escaping!" Justin held out his arm to aim his blade at them but realized that it was useless.

"Crona!" Justin turned to see the golem attacking the group of younger teens.

"Maka!" Crona groaned as he tried to hold the monster back with his sword, it threw blow after blow at him, lifting him off of the ground and letting him land before trying to punch him again.

"Students; please stand back!" Justin ordered, the golem noticed him and began walking toward the boy.

"What's going on?" Crona stood next to Maka and Soul.

They watched as Justin suddenly jumped above the creature, "Law Abiding Silver Gun!"

Justin landed and stayed still until the monster's head fell off with a weak thud.

Neko groaned as she heard metal slicing through rock._ W-what happened?_ Neko realized that she was lying on her stomach.

Slowly she pushed herself onto her hands and knees, her arms quivered before giving out and sending her collapsing back onto the stones.

She could hear Justin saying something; it sounded like he was praying.

"Guh…" Neko pushed herself back onto her hands and knees, trying to keep herself from falling over due to dizziness.

"Neko?" The girl heard Justin call out her name, as if surprised by what she was doing.

"Neko!" Justin called out her name a second time and ran across the plaza to help the struggling reaper.

Crona followed the priest and watched as his new friend staggered to her feet and leaned heavily on the other teen.

Slowly, Justin walked the girl across the square, pausing when he got to Crona as it seemed that he was very worried about the miester.

"N-Neko… are you… are you okay?" Crona asked the more powerful person.

Neko's mouth cracked into a weak smile, "Yeah, I'll be fine Crona." Neko screwed her eyes shut and grimaced as she leaned more into Justin's robes.

The group made its way back to Justin's dune buggy, getting many concerned stares as a priest was helping one girl struggle to walk and another boy carrying what seemed to be a paralyzed girl, a boy with pastel-pink hair was running between the two, passing messages and occasionally asking; "Are you feeling better?" or "Are you okay now?"

The albino boy placed one of the girls into the decorated black coffin.

The priest placed the other girl on the back of his buggy before turning the keys and starting the engine.

Soul stared at his miester, "Still can't move at all Maka?"

Justin, Soul, and Crona were gathered around the coffin. "Man, that's one tough spell Arachne placed on you; it doesn't look like it's going anywhere." Soul stated.

"I feel so inept." Justin exclaimed.

"Uh huh." Crona agreed with the priest's statement.

"Hey! Hold on a sec." Maka frowned in the coffin, where the boys had folded her hands in a corpse-like fashion. "Is it really necessary to put me in_ here_?"

The boy's looked away for a second before all turning at the same time; "What?"

"Come on! I know at least one of you could read my_ lips_!" Maka growled.

"Well we better ask if Professor Stein can fix her up somehow." Soul sighed.

"Yes, I agree; if anyone knows what to do, it'll be him. Stein's a doctor after all." Justin and Crona nodded.

"Yeah, that's true." Soul commented.

"I'm sure Stein won't do anything weird to me." Maka injected sarcastically.

Crona picked another flower, "Hey, look Maka; a flower." He threw it in with the other many colorful plant blossoms.

"Thank you, Crona." Maka cried out of frustration.

"And here's one for you Neko." Crona offered a daffodil to the girl who was sitting, slightly straighter, on the bike.

"Thanks Crona." Neko forced a smile and held back a whimper while taking the soft, delicate yellow flower from the boy's hand.

"We'll meet you back at the school then?" Justin sat on his dune buggy and waited for Neko to put her hands on his shoulders.

"Yeah, see ya." Soul nodded.

Justin nodded to the two younger teens and rode off with the two girls behind him.

Neko grimaced but held on to the older boys shoulders, she couldn't help but wonder about the fight. _What happened back there?_


	33. Recovery and Observation

**Chapter 33: Recovery and Observation (Getting Ready for the Inevitable?)**

* * *

><p>"So?" Justin stood, calm but worried, next to the bed that Neko had been laid on top of.<p>

"She'll be fine, there'll be a lot of bruising, but realize that she's already healed." Nygus addressed Neko's arm and hand where there were now only scars and the pale blueness that forewarned of massive bruising.

"Do you know or have any ideas as to why she fell down like that?" Justin looked between the two females.

"No." Nygus sighed, "I've never heard of anything like that happening either."

"I have a theory." Neko jumped into the conversation, tired of being treated like she wasn't there.

Both the priest and the nurse looked down at her, waiting for her answer to this mystery.

"My father's warned me about this happening." Neko sighed. "I'm sure that you've learned all about circuits and currents in class of somewhere else." Neko looked up to see her audience of two nodding. "They work differently on me or Stein than they do on something like a machine. When Giriko cut my arm, the circuit in my body was severed, though if that hadn't done it- the injury to my hand did. Anyways; because the circuit was severed, the electric current didn't have a way to leave my body in the directed fashion that it normally does, therefore, I electrocuted myself."

"Wait, what?" Black Star frowned with confusion, jumping into the conversation even though he had obviously just snuck into her room.

Neko sighed. "The circuit in my body couldn't connect, because it was severed, because the circuit couldn't connect the current had no way to leave my body in a controlled manner. I electrocuted myself."

Black Star stared at her for a second before responding, "Well that was stupid, huh?"

"Don't you have to go visit Maka?" Neko frowned.

"Oh! Yeah! I'll be going now, the great Black Star can't be everywhere at once and after all- everyone wants to have him visit them." Black Star smiled widely before leaving the room.

"When did he come in here?" Justin frowned.

"I was wondering that; usually Black Star likes to make such a huge entrance." Neko shrugged before looking at the nurse who was getting ready to leave, obviously to talk to Maka. "Um, Nurse Nygus, may I go visit Maka?"

Nygus sighed and looked at her, assessing the girl's condition with her eyes, before responding, "Yes, but be careful, your muscles are going to be very stiff for a few days because of the amount of electricity that passed through you." Nygus thought for a second before adding, "The amount of power that you shot though yourself would have, more-than-likely, killed a normal person."

Neko looked after her until the door shut completely and she was alone with the music-obsessed teen; Justin.

"So, how are you feeling after all of this?" Neko looked at the death scythe.

"I'm feeling alright." Justin shrugged.

"Just _alright_? I mean, it might not have hurt a lot but you still got beat up out there." Neko wanted to survey the damage that the battle had brought to him, but Justin had refused to let Nygus look him over and Neko couldn't see anything due to the long robes that the boy wore.

"Yeah, a few scrapes and bruises- maybe, but nothing bad." Justin nodded.

Neko nodded back, deciding that if he knew that he needed help, he'd get it.

"Let's go to visit Maka then." Neko threw the useless blankets off of her body and ignored the slight cramping that came from throwing her legs over the edge of the bed.

"Can you do it by yourself?" Justin watched as Neko's feet touched the floor and the girl pushed herself fully onto them.

"Yes." Neko wobbled for a second before standing calmly and staring at the boy next to her.

"Well, I'm going to go rest then, I'll see you later." Justin waved to her and left the room.

Neko walked carefully across the room, down a short, white-washed, hallway, and stopped at the room where Maka was said to be.

"Hello? Maka?" Neko knocked lightly on the inside of the door and looked toward the bed that all of her friends were gathered around.

"Neko!" Patty turned on her heels away from the bed and tackled the reaper, hugging her tightly. "Are you okay? I heard about what happened- how're you feeling?"

"Patty…" Neko groaned. "Please get off; you're hurting me."

The young weapon yelped and immediately stood up.

Neko sighed as Kid rushed to her side and helped her stand up.

The reaper walked over and sat down at the end of Maka's bed and smiled at the miester.

"How are you feeling, Maka?" Neko stared at the paralyzed girl.

"Fine, but I feel like a baby." Maka pouted.

"Why?" Neko's brow furrowed as she looked around the room filled with friends.

"Soul, here, won't stop spoon-feeding me!" Maka exclaimed, obviously frustrated with her problem.

"How else are you gonna eat?" Soul argued.

"I just don't want you talking to me like I'm a _baby_!" Maka's voice raised in volume.

"You're acting enough like one!" Soul's voice rose to match his miester's.

"Hey! Stop fighting!" Neko shouted, startling both of them.

Maka and Soul both pouted and looked at the reaper who was sitting at the foot of the bed.

"How're you feeling, Neko?" Soul asked, trying to get the subject away from anything arguable.

"I'm feeling quite well actually."Neko nodded. "I'm going to go check on Crona now- Maka; do you have any messages that you'd like for me to pass along?" Neko stared at the girl, awaiting a response.

"Just 'Hi' and 'I hope he's feeling okay'." Maka smiled.

"No problem." Neko stood up and looked at Kid. "Do you want to come with me down to Crona's room?"

"Yeah, sure." Kid smiled and slowly grabbed her hand.

Neko tensed for a moment from the sudden contact and affection but relaxed and allowed her hand to grasp his with the same softness.

"Aw! Kid and Neko, sitting in a tree-" Kid shut the door harder than needed to cut off Patty's singing.

The two young reapers walked down the hallway, footsteps being covered by the sound of Patty's hysterical laughter.

"So…" Neko started a conversation as she and Kid started down the long series of staircases that would lead to the basement.

"So?" Kid wore a small smile, focusing more on the soft warmth of Neko's hand than anything else.

"What did you, Liz, and Patty do all day while I was gone?" Neko looked up and met his gaze.

"Nothing much, we want to see a movie." Kid responded, slowly coming out of his dream-like state.

"Oh? What was it about?" Neko stopped on a step, pulled her hand away from Kid's, and began digging through her pockets.

"It was Patty's choice; a documentary on giraffes and their habits... what are you doing?" Kid eyed the other reaper, not entirely sure what she was up to.

"I just remembered something-" Neko pulled out a twenty dollar bill, opened Kid's hand, placed it carefully inside, and re-shut his fist. "I need you to go to the candy shop and buy _as much_ candy as you can with this."

Kid looked between his fist that held the money, and on which- much to his enjoyment- Neko's hand still rested, and the reaper. "_All_ of this money? You know that _five dollars_ will get you about a pound and a half of candy, right?"

"Yes. Please hurry, and bring it to Crona's room; I'll meet you there." Neko smiled sheepishly.

"Okay." Kid agreed without hesitation.

Neko went to remove her hand from his, but Kid was faster- he grabbed her hand and kissed it gently before allowing her to pull away and leave him to run off on his errand.

Neko blushed as she watched the teen run off on his assignment before sighing and turning away, continuing her walk to Crona's room.

Neko walked down the cool hallway until she got to certain metal door.

"Crona?" Neko knocked lightly on the metal door and waited for a response.

"W-who is it?" A timid voice whimpered from inside the cold stone room.

"It's Neko, may I come in?" Neko waited again and after a brief moment heard the turning of a lock as the answer.

"C-come in." Crona's voice called out timidly, inviting the reaper in.

Neko opened the door and paused to let her eyes adjust to the dimness of the room.

"A-are you fe-feeling better?" Neko searched the room for the source of the voice and saw a huddled figure sitting in a dimly lit corner.

"Yes, I'm feeling fine now. How are you feeling?" Neko walked over to the boy slowly and sat down next to him.

"I'm… okay." Crona replied, his voice muffled due to the fact that his head was still hidden in his hands and knees.

"And how's Ragnarok?" Neko leaned over slightly, hoping to catch a glimpse of the miester's face.

"H-he's okay too… he's been nicer lately; he's not beating me up as much." Crona looked up and had a rare, small, smile, stretching his lips, his eyes open wide, giving his the look of a helpless, frightened deer.

"Hey! How 'bout ya let me answer for myself, huh?" A small black blob with white gloves and large, **x** shaped pupils emerged from Crona's back.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry Ragnarok, I should have asked you personally." Neko jumped in to apologize before the weapon could begin beating up the frail miester.

"What?" Ragnarok stopped his fist from colliding with Crona's face and stared at the girl in obvious surprise.

"I'm sorry for not asking _you _how you're feeling- I was being very inconsiderate, please forgive me." Neko cocked her head and looked at the cranky black blob.

"Well… I…" Ragnarok was taken aback by the polite and formal apology. "Fine- but don't do it again!" He quickly regained his composer.

"So how _are_ you feeling, Ragnarok?" Neko smiled and waited quietly for a response.

"I'm okay, thanks for askin'." The weapon huffed.

"Neko?" Another boy's voice called out from the hallway.

"W-who's that?" Crona leaned into the corner in fear.

"That's my friend Kid, he has a surprise." Neko smiled and hoped that the explanation would be enough to calm him down, not wanting to resort to using electricity as she didn't know how her body would act to it at the moment.

"No! Kid's mean! His guns hurt!" Crona yelped and cowered deeper into the corner, trying to make himself smaller.

"Kid isn't going to hurt you- I promise." Neko nodded.

"And if that promise is _broken_?" Ragnarok seemed nervous about the confrontation as well.

"I'll protect you- he won't get to either of you at _all_." Neko's voice dropped to a more serious and assuring tone.

"O-o… okay." Crona agreed hesitantly and whimpered as Neko stood up and reopened the metal door, allowing the second reaper into the dark room.

"I got the candy- there's about six pounds of candy." Kid whispered to Neko as he handed her the medium-sized bag.

"Thank you." Neko took the bag gently and quickly pecked his cheek.

Kid waited until Neko had turned around before allowing himself to smile and touch his cheek in wonder, as if considering that something was left on his cheek from her kiss._ If that's what I get each time I buy her candy, I'll do it every day._ Kid blinked and looked around, suddenly worried that he had said that out loud. When it was obvious that he was getting no stares or weird looks, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's that?" Ragnarok pointed to the bulging sack.

"Do you want some candy?" Neko opened the bag and took out a handful of candy.

Ragnarok's eyes grew wide as he saw the sweet treat in Neko's hand and realized that the bag was full of it.

"Yeah! gimme!" Ragnarok held out his hand and waited for his treat.

"Here you are." Neko dumped the handful of candy into the demon sword's open hand.

"Do _you_ want some candy, Crona?" Neko knelt down and held out a few pieces of candy to the timid boy.

"More candy?" Ragnarok reached for the extra candy and immediately felt a sharp pain on his forehead.

"No. This candy is for Crona." Neko's hand was poised to flick him again, as if daring him to try again.

Ragnarok huffed, crossed his arms, and leaned back; submitting to waiting his turn to receive more food.

"Go ahead- take it." Neko urged the boy to accept the sugary treat.

Crona lifted his head and cautiously eyed the various candies.

"What's that one?" Crona pointed at one of the flat, circular candies.

Neko looked at Kid for an answer.

"Um… I got a few different things- mostly chocolate or powdered sugar or gummy candy… I'm not sure what the names are for them." Kid scratched the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly.

"Okay… well, let me see-" Neko stared at the piece of food that Crona was still pointing to. "It looks like some sort of compacted powder sugar… I think it's a smartie." Neko shrugged.

"I don't know how to deal with smarties!" Crona whined.

"Really? Well it's easy- you do this;" Neko took another candy that looked almost identical to it and popped it into her mouth.

"That's all?" Crona looked at her and something in his gaze told her that he didn't know how to eat something like that.

"Yeah, that's it Crona. Go on; you'll like them. They taste good." Neko moved her hand slightly so that it would be easier for him to grab.

"They taste good?" Crona looked at her as if wanting extra confirmation that what he was about to eat was something that would be enjoyable.

"Yes, they're my favorite candy." Neko nodded and watched as Crona hesitantly took the small candy and placed it delicately in his mouth.

Neko had to only wait a second more before Crona's face lit up as the sweetness flooded his mouth.

"It's good." Crona nodded.

"Do you want another?" Neko offered another small, round disk of compact sugar.

Crona took it quickly and gave a small smile of pleasure as he sucked on the candy.

"Kid? Neko?" A woman's voice was suddenly outside the door.

"Who's that?" Crona yelped, his happiness instantly replaced with fear and worry.

Kid opened the door slightly and peaked outside; he leaned back in and addressed both Neko and Crona. "It's Nurse Nygus."

"Yes?" Neko called out to the health examiner from her sitting position.

"Neko, you need to come rest now- otherwise it'll take you even longer to heal." Nygus replied.

Neko sighed. "I'm coming, give me a moment." She turned back to Crona and Ragnarok. "Ragnarok; I want you to give Crona _all_ of the smarties, okay?"

"What? No way!" Ragnarok screamed.

"If you do- you can have the _rest_ of the candy- all you don't get is the smarties." Neko struck a deal.

"_All_ the other candies?" Ragnarok leaned closer to the reaper, disbelieving what he was hearing.

"Yes." Neko nodded and stood up. "Can I trust you?"

"Yep- Crona can have all the smarties." Ragnarok nodded and took the bag politely from Neko.

"Good." Neko smiled and turned to walk out with Kid. "I'll talk to you later Crona."

"Yeah, see you later." Crona nodded.

Neko shut the metal door softly and turned back to the nurse and Kid.

"You shouldn't be walking all over the school like this." Nygus chided softly.

"I needed to make sure that Crona and Ragnarok were doing alright, they got pretty banged up during that fight." Neko argued, following the nurse slowly up the stairs.

"I understand that, but when you're walking around alone… what if something had happened and you had gotten hurt? If you fell or tripped, no one would be around to help you." Nygus sighed.

"But I didn't! It's just a couple bruises, not the end of the world!" Neko realized that her voice was raised and quickly shut her mouth.

"Well, I think that you've had enough excitement to last you awhile." Nygus opened a door and Neko jumped when she realized that it was the door to her hospital room.

Slowly the group of three went in, Neko clamored back into her bed, careful not to bump her damaged arm.

"Now, sleep." Nygus ordered, tucking the blankets around the girl's chest.

Neko nodded and closed her eyes in reply, smiling slightly as she heard Kid sit in the chair next to her bed.

* * *

><p>Neko returned to class the next day, sitting quietly by Kid as she listened to the different conversations.<p>

"Class is starting- is everyone in their seats?" Stein called out, asking an obviously rhetorical question.

"You had us all worried for a little while there Maka, I'm glad the spell wore off and you're back to normal again." Liz smiled.

Maka nodded, "Uh huh, and feeling better than ever!"

"Great, glad to hear it." Neko nodded and ignored the lack of comfort as she leaned across her desk to speak to Maka.

"Oh, yeah, and how're you feeling Neko?" Maka also leaned across her desk.

"I feel much better, thank you for asking." Neko nodded before leaning back in her seat.

"Hey, to celebrate, we're going to have a party- do ya all wanna come?" Patty giggled.

Various nods and comments of 'yes', 'yeah', and 'sure' confirmed the friends coming.

"Great!" Patty smiled.

"Okay- time for a test- I need Ox, Harvar, Maka, Soul, and Black Star- without Tsubaki- down here now." Stein called out.

"Huh? Why can't I use Tsubaki?" Black Star huffed.

"Because otherwise you're too powerful." Stein sighed. "I'm going to have you resonate your souls together to try to defeat me. Gather around."

The teens gathered in an anxious half circle and waited as Stein slowly cranked his screw.

Neko and Kid watched together as Soul and Harvar transformed and landed in their miester's hands.

Black Star suddenly lunged at the scientist.

Stein flipped, grabbed his chair, and landed in it in one swift move, dodging backward as Black Star continued his failing attacks.

Oz stabbed the blue haired miester and electrocuted him; Maka finished Black Star by accidently hitting him with her scythe, sending him careening into a wall.

"This won't work- they can't even work together." Neko sighed.

"Yeah, I know." Kid answered. "Pathetic."

Neko shrugged and zoned out, preparing for something that she now realized would be happening sooner than she wanted.


	34. The Runaway Express

**Chapter 34: The Run Away Express (The Fisher King?)**

* * *

><p>"Hot!" Patty whined as she trudged alongside Liz.<p>

"What are we doing in this wasteland? It's hot and sandy and horrible." Liz complained for the umpteenth time since the group of four had landed.

"_So_ hot!" Patty sounded like she was going to cry.

Neko sighed, _between the sun and those two- I'm going to get a headache… I really don't want a headache._ Neko was about to ask the weapons to keep their whining to a minimal as it really didn't help anything, when Kid beat her to the point.

"Quit complaining! We're here on Dad's orders. You guys have heard of the runaway express, right?" Kid kept looking forward but spoke to his weapons. "The high-speed train that runs through the desert without following any tracks?"

"_Hot_!" Patty sounded angry. "It's so freakin' hot out here!"

"Patty! Would Justin complain this much?" Neko frowned at the girl.

"Oh, yeah, that's what I was forgetting; where's Justin? Isn't he your partner?" Liz looked at the reaper.

"Yeah, but he wanted to go to a concert and Lord Death said that it wouldn't be a very hard mission, so I let him stay home so he can go to the concert today." Neko explained.

"Oh, I see." Liz nodded.

"So hot!" Patty whined louder.

"Stop. I know a way you can cool down a little." Neko continued to frown at the whiny teen.

"Really?" Patty looked up at the reaper with such a look that told her that she was willing to try anything.

Neko offered Patty her hand.

Patty took it questioningly and instantly dropped it in shock. "Whoa! How's your hand that cold?"

"A reaper's body has various things different about them-" Neko started.

"Such as we can't get sunburned or dye our hair." Kid jumped into the conversation, obviously done with the one between him and Liz.

"Yes, also our body temperature is lower than a human's." Neko explained.

"Really?" Patty looked between Kid and Neko, searching for something that confirmed such a fact.

"Yes, our body temperature stays around 85 degrees." Kid nodded and allowed his pace to slow just slightly as they started ascending a large sand dune.

"Whoa! That's _really_ cold!" Liz also looked at them.

"Yeah. And we don't really heat up under the sun either." Neko nodded.

Patty suddenly hugged the reaper, "So you're like a living air conditioner!"

"Um… sure." Neko obviously felt awkward from the sudden hug and odd comment.

"Here we are." Kid announced, looking at a random train station building that was set at the bottom of the sand dune.

"A train station in the middle of the desert?" Liz looked at the building.

"Let's get going- we don't want to miss our train." Kid jumped off of the edge of the dune and slid down on his feet.

Neko and Liz followed, dragging Patty in tow.

"There's someone there, it looks like a child." Kid frowned.

"This train _is_ famous." Neko pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Kid nodded and continued his walk.

The group walked calmly toward the small platform, Kid and Neko trying to ignore Patty's moaning.

"Hello there." Kid greeted the small figure as the four of them climbed the stairs to the top of the station. "It sure is hot today, isn't it?"

"Hello." Liz and Patty half-heartedly greeted.

The child looked at them, it's face hidden in clothes, but didn't respond.

"Hey midget! Where're your manners? Aren't cha gonna answer us? When someone says hello, you answer them _okay_?" Patty exploded, obviously overcome with heat.

Neko momentarily thought about electrocuting the girl to knock her out, but ruled against it as Kid had already started handling it by the time Neko went to move.

"Calm down." Kid ordered.

Patty hunched over, panting from her rant.

"Chi, chi." The child squeaked.

"Hey! Who do you think you are; clicking your tongue at us like that? That's it, I'm gonna kill ya!" Patty went to step forward but her sister grabbed her from behind.

"Oh, wow, Patty! Look at all this sand! Let's just sit here and play awhile." Liz knelt on the ground next to her sister.

"Ah! Yeah! I'm gonna build a sand castle!" Patty waved her arms around before setting to work on the object that she was trying to build.

Neko and Kid stood together on the platform, studying the desolate landscape. Kid pulled out a train schedule and checked it, "According to this schedule, the train should be arriving soon." Kid looked around for any signs of smoke or small object in the distance before he placed the paper back into his jacket.

"Is that why you're here?" Kid tried to strike up a friendly conversation with the child standing on the opposite side of the platform. "The Runaway Express?"

"Chi, chi, chi." The child squeaked in reply.

Neko and Kid stood, a fully recognized awkward silence between the group.

"All done!" Patty announced, waving her arms.

"Oh, it looks great, Patty!" Liz patted her sister's head.

Neko turned to see the castle they built and frowned when all she saw was a pile of sand with a random nail stuck into the top of it.

Neko turned back to find that Kid was going into a slight panic. "I still don't see anything!" Kid pulled a pocket watch from his jacket, "At this rate, it's going to miss it's scheduled arrival!"

Kid and Neko watched as the seconds ticked by on the watch, marking the time when the train was supposed to arrive.

Kid frowned. "So it's perfect punctuality was nothing more than a rumor. How disappointing."

Neko looked around and saw a thick line of sand shooting into the air. "Uh… Kid?"

Kid and Neko jumped back as a huge plumb of fire shot up in front of them at the sound of a train whistle.

The train exploded from the ground and launched high into the air.

"Awesome!" Patty giggled.

"Oh!" Kid stared at the train as it flew above the station.

It landed twenty yards away and began to chug away from the station.

Neko saw a hook shoot out a grab the train, a large man in a neon orange suit flew on the train.

"Ah, I see that Lord Death sent his minions, well, you're too late! This big fish is mine for the taking! The magic tool belongs to Arachne! Fisher!"

Kid and Neko watched as the train kept getting smaller.

"That's the agent Arachne sent out to get the tool!" Kid announced.

"What?" Kid and Neko turned at the same time to the child and watched it fly away after the train. "A witch's soul? So that kid wasn't a tourist after all? Though I suppose witches can be tourists too…"

"Oh no!" Patty pointed to something.

Neko and Kid looked down and saw the small sphere moments before it exploded.

Kid and Neko flew and skidded to a stop before jumping up. "That settles it;" Kid frowned. "Tourists don't leave bombs."

Neko flew alongside Kid, using electricity to do so.

"You can admire it later, right now I need you to transform." Kid stopped and hovered, waiting for the twin pistols to land in his hands.

After he latched his pinkies through the triggers he sped off, Neko next to him. "Let's go, go, go, go!" They wove back and forth as they rushed to catch the runaway express.

They flew closer to it; a sudden missile shot from the neon man almost struck them before they could dodge. They had barely time to recover when a barrage of the same missiles fired around them.

Another kind of bomb struck near them, Neko and Kid looked up to see the witch flying above the train. It stared at them for a moment before unloading multiple bombs onto the train.

"We can use this to our advantage." Kid spoke to Neko. "We can use the smoke to hide our approach."

Kid grabbed onto the side of the train at the same time Neko used the railing to climb aboard.

"Not good!" Neko turned and realized that Kid couldn't get away before the train turned.

Neko watched as Kid was hit by the caravan and thrown into the air before landing precariously back on his skateboard. _Dang it! Come on, I can't wait forever!_ Neko frowned, not wanting to deal with the neon man by herself.

She watched as Kid flew alongside the machine, using Patty for attack while doing tricks for both fun and to land on top of a train car ahead of her.

She opened the door and began to run through each car, nimbly keeping her balance as the train made rough turns and slides.

She entered a car at the same time Kid flew though the window.

"Oh, well, glad to see that you know how to board a train." Neko commented sarcastically as she and Kid searched the car for the man.

"I'll admit that it's not one of my strong suits." Kid smirked and glanced at the girl beside him.

"I'll have to show you sometime than… come on- we need to find Fisher." Neko headed toward the front of the train.

"Alright, where'd the guy run off to?" Kid and Neko burst through a fourth car door and saw the neon-suited man standing in the doorway of the next car.

"You move fast Skateboard kid… and Flying kid." The man shouted.

"Is he talking to us?" Neko tried to suppress a giggle.

"Yeah." By the tone of Kid's voice he was also trying to keep from laughing at the dumb nicknames.

"But that won't stop you from fall away with that half of the train." The man gave a peace sign.

"Dang it!" Kid ran toward the doorway, "He's going to uncouple the cars!"

Neko also ran and saw the small witch fly by, sending the suited man flipping out of the way.

"That was close! I forgot that I had to watch for attacks from the air too, but no one catches the Fisher King!" The man laughed.

Kid and Neko stood next to each other, not knowing what to say as the man was now standing right next to them.

It took a full 30 seconds for the man to realize what was wrong with the picture.

"Dang it! That flip landed me on the wrong side of the train! Fisher!" The man yelled in rage.

Kid smiled and leaned toward Neko, "This man's a special kind of stupid."

Neko nodded in agreement.

"Dang! …And; fisher!" The man sent out a hook that latched onto the other side of the train. "Well… see ya."

Neko and Kid watched as the man was lifted away.

"Liz! Patty!" Kid threw his weapons at the man before taking Neko's hand and jumping after them.

"Connect!"

"Connect!" Liz and Patty made a chain starting on the fisher king's legs.

Kid grabbed onto Liz's ankles and felt Neko do the same to him.

"Ahh!" The weapons screamed as they whipped around.

"We're flying!" Liz smiled.

"How cool!" Patty giggled in agreement.

As the five of them landed, the combined weight of them all sent them crashing through the door of the car.

"I can taste victory! No one's gonna get to the engine room ahead of me!" Fisher bounced along the car.

"Liz, Patty." Kid stood up and called them to transform.

Kid aimed and had seconds to throw himself into a seat before the barrage of bullets started.

Neko grunted as she accidentally landed on top of Kid.

"Ah!" Kid looked up at the girl who was now lying on top of him.

"Sorry." Neko wanted to roll off but couldn't due to the heavy fire.

"No… you're fine." Kid had a small smile while he looked up at her.

Neko blushed, realizing that her hands were on his chest.

"We'll have to do this again sometime." Kid smiled.

"Yes, but maybe under more calm and friendly circumstances." Neko agreed.

They paused and listened to the neon man.

"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!" The man fired randomly.

"This guy is stupid, ugly, _and_ a bad shooter!" Kid frowned.

Neko heard the, now familiar, 'chi, chi' before the firing stopped.

"Hey!" The man looked at the left over stub of his gun.  
>Kid stood up quickly and stepped ahead of Neko, he ran at Fisher and stabbed him with his gun before kicking him across his head hard enough to send him into the next room.<p>

Neko chased after Kid, doing nothing to attack but staying far enough out of the way that she could watch.

"You're too late!" Fisher laughed before being suddenly cut off by Kid plowing into his stomach and firing a strong shot of energy through him that sent him to the floor and unable to get up.

Neko, Kid, Liz, and Patty gathered around the key.

"This is it. This is what we came here for." Kid stared at the turning key with disgust. "After it's gone, the Runaway Express will sleep."

Neko reached forward and pulled the key from the lock, handing it carefully to Kid.

"This is an evil tool." Kid eyed the key with wariness. "Just holding it disgusts me."

The fisher king suddenly laughed from his position on the ground. "I see you're a typical, ignorant, student of the academy. That tool was created by the great wizard, Eibon; it's a work of genius."

"What? Eibon? If he made this, he's an evil piece of trash." Kid growled.

"Would you say that of Lord Death as well?" Fisher panted.

Kid walked over to the man and picked him up by his suit. "What does my _father_ have to do with this?"

Fisher laughed. "Oh, how cute, so you're the grim reaper's son are you?" The man panted. "Then let me show you something; open that door right there. The one that held the eternal spring and look inside."

Kid and Neko looked at the box with the large key hole on the front of it. "That box right there? What's in it that I need to see?"

"Eibon's tool isn't just the spring alone, it's also that box you see there. And that's where you need to look. Go on, open it. Open it!" Fisher urged. "You know you want to. Read the names that are written on the plate inside the box."

Kid walked toward it and opened it with surprising ease.

"It says Eibon and then it says… below that it says… it says Death." Kid's voice was filled with horror. "There's no mistaking it; that's Dad's hand writing. Why would Dad's signature be on something so evil like this?"

Neko frowned at his whispering.

"What's wrong, Kid?" Liz and Patty stared at their miester with worry, having not been close enough to hear what disturbed him.

"Yes! What's wrong?" Fisher asked mockingly. "Could it be that what you find written there a tad… disturbing? Who's signature do you see there on that 'evil tool'?"

"What's the meaning of this?" Kid whipped around. "Tell me what's going on here!"

"Eibon is-" The man was cut off as a knife suddenly killed him, sinking deep into his forehead.

"What?" Kid and Neko turned around, ready to defend themselves, and saw Sid.

"Hey, you guys okay?" Sid looked at the group of four.

"I-I…!" Kid looked visually upset, obviously angry by the lack of answers he received.

"You look tierd, why don't you go back home?" Sid suggested.

"No, we're fine. We-" Neko was cut off by Nygus, who appeared behind the group.

"Neko, what are you doing here!"

"Lord Death told me to come." Neko explained.

"Well do you realize that you broke the stitching in your arm? Or that the bandages came off your hand and the scabs ripped off?" Nygus pointed these out and Neko looked down to see that her whole arm was dark red.

"I-" Neko was about to argue but the nurse cut her off again.

"You should go home." The nurse said, making the teen realize that it wasn't a suggestion as much as it was an order.

The teens frowned but bowed and walked past them without a word, keeping this angry silence between them until they got home.

Neko opened the door and waited as the exhausted Liz and Patty trudged into the house. She looked for Kid and saw that he was turning around and leaving.

"Kid?" Neko still held open the door but not fully as she was hoping that it would help Liz and Patty not hear them. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the library. I'm going to go find out more about this Eibon character." Kid looked at the reaper.

"Okay. Be careful. And don't stay out too late; we have a party to host tomorrow night and Soul wanted us to play another basketball game in the morning." Neko nodded.

"I'll be fine." Kid smiled.

"I know." Neko smiled back before turning around and shutting the door.

* * *

><p><em>WARNING: Excalibur WILL be in the NEXT chapter. (Just thought I'd warn you.)<em>


	35. Depression and Blame

**Chapter 35: Depression and Blame? (Excalibur _Again_?)**

* * *

><p>Jazz music floated around the house as teens mingled; dancing, eating, and talking.<p>

"Hey, Soul," Liz approached Soul and Maka as the weapon was removing a record from his bag, "thanks for contributing to the music selection."

"Sure. Is this one going to be okay though?" Soul turned around to look Liz. "You said to bring something catchy, so I decided on this punk record…" He chuckled as he handed it to Liz, "I don't think it'll work that well for this crowd."

"Yeah…" Liz shrugged.

"Well then, play the piano!" Maka pointed to the large piano in the corner of the room. "There's one right there."

"Why the sudden craving?" Soul looked at his miester.

"It's been awhile since I've heard you." Maka explained, still pointing to the piano.

"I think I'll pass on that one… I gotta take a leak." Soul turned and walked away from Maka and Liz.

"Fun party, Kid." Soul walked past Kid and Neko on his way to a hallway that turned next to the stairwell.

"Thank you." Kid nodded at the weapon and turned back to Neko. "So, are _you_ enjoying it?"

"Huh?" Neko blinked and looked at the boy who now stood in a brown dress shirt and suspenders.

"I asked if you're enjoying the party." Kid searched her face momentarily for any signs that she was upset in any way.

"Yeah. Sorry, I was just thinking about the guest list." Neko looked around the room.

"What about it?" Kid also looked around, searching for something that was missing.

"The only kid who didn't show up was Hiro." Neko frowned.

"Hm… well, he'll be at school tomorrow, most likely, ask him then." Kid suggested.

"Yeah… where's Crona?" Neko looked around to see a thin boy dressed in a white button-down shirt, his light pink hair falling in front of his eyes.

"Let's go make him feel more comfortable." Kid suggested.

The pair walked across the room and stood next to Crona.

"Sorry Crona, a noisy group like this must make you uncomfortable." Kid looked at the chattering students.

"I'm not completely used to it yet." Crona looked at Neko although she was talking to Kid. "But… I'm not feeling uncomfortable either."

"That's great, Crona." Neko smiled.

"No one's going anywhere for a bit- so you can take your time; join the group at your own pace." Kid smiled and put his hand on Crona's shoulder.

"Hmm?" Crona looked at Kid, not sure how to react to a person who had tried to kill him but was now acting like they were friends.

Kid chuckled. "There's no need to rush this sort of thing."

Neko nodded.

"Ha!" Black Star ran up and slung his arms around Kid and Crona's necks. "What-er-ya hangin' out over here for? It's a party- lets have some fun!"

Neko watched this and moved quickly to take Black Star away from, the now panicking, Crona, but stopped when she saw Maka quickly approaching. _This… might teach the kid more of a lesson._ Neko watched as Maka came up and punched Black Star in the face.

Black Star flew back and sat up after he landed, "What was _that_ for?"

Maka put her hands on her hips and scowled at the blue-haired boy, "Don't bully Crona!"

"What's up? Someone's bullying Crona?" Black Star grabbed the pink-haired miester by the shoulders and looked at him. "Crona; if some one's giving you a hard time, just let ol' Black Star know… I'll throw 'em out the nearest window."

Crona stared at him for a second before looking around the rest of the group. "Why is everyone so nice? To someone like me?"

"It's simple Crona," Maka smiled and stepped closer to the miester. "That's just what friends do."

Crona looked around again and saw that everyone was smiling in agreement.

"If you're a friend then _feed me_!" Ragnarok emerged from Crona's back and looked around the group.

"Here ya' go!" Patty held up a piece of food on a fork. "Tsubaki made it."

"I sure hope you like it." Tsubaki smiled.

Ragnarok leaned forward and took the food, drool dripping down his chin.

"Gross." Soul frowned.

Everyone else laughed, finding the whole night to be funny.

Crona looked around and paused for a moment before smiling and letting out an airy giggle.

"Good, now that everyone's in a good mood; let's party." Black Star ran off toward the food table.

Kid looked around and found Neko talking with Liz and Patty.

"Neko?" Kid stepping into the conversation.

"Yeah?" Neko looked at him with a depressive frown.

"Do you want to dance?" Kid offered his hand.

"Um… not tonight." Neko frowned. "Sorry. I'm tired- I'm going to bed. Could you apologize to the rest of the gang for me?"

"Yeah. Sure." Kid reflected the frown and withdrew his hand, feeling slightly hurt from her response.

"Thanks." Neko turned and walked upstairs without another word.

She trudged into her room and fell down on her bed, not bothering to take off any of her clothing.

"Please… make the pain stop!" Neko felt tears falling from her eyes as she stared at the photo of her father, silently hoping that she could sleep without nightmares that night.

* * *

><p>The next week passed with no problems other than severe annoyance. Excalibur had come to the school, weapon of Hiro.<p>

The students both admired and shunned the boy, amazed that he could deal with such a creature, but not wanting to be around him to much as hanging out with _him_, meant dealing that _Excalibur_.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Hiro decided that he really _did_ hate his weapon, shunning him and wanting nothing more to do with the legendary nuisance.

But now, much to everyone's horror, Excalibur hadn't gone home, apparently still wanting something from someone at the school.

* * *

><p>"Neko?" The small, annoying, creature walked around the school hallways, stopping to stare at anyone who wore brown shoes, black pants, a dress shirt, had very short brown hair, and had glasses. It wasn't getting him very far as several girls and guys matched this description.<p>

"Hello? Neko?" He walked to a group of teens who all matched the criteria for who he was looking for.

"Ew!", "Go away!", "Ugh, _him_ again?" was his reply.

"Fools!" Excalibur pointed to them with his cane before turning around and sighing. He scanned the hallway and saw someone he _did_ recognize walking down the hall.

"Hey! You! Fool!" Excalibur ran to the boy and jumped in his way, spreading out his arms as a way of telling the teen not to go any further.

Kid looked down and instantly frowned. "What do _you_ want?"

"Neko lives with you, am I correct?" Excalibur pointed his cane at Kid's face.

"Yes, why do you-" Kid began to explain.

"Fool! I already knew the answer." Excalibur lowered his cane and leaned on it.

"Than why'd you ask?" Kid sighed.

"Fool! Let me speak." The weapon waved his cane in Kid's face again. "Do you know where Neko is at this moment?"

"Not really. She hasn't spoken a lot to anyone, including me, in the last few days. I'm not sure where she is because I've been giving her, her space." Kid frowned, doing his best to keep calm around the horrible annoyance.

"So, she's separated herself from the group?" Excalibur turned away to go into his own thoughts.

"Yes, exactly." Kid nodded.

"Fool! Don't interrupt me while I'm thinking!" Excalibur ordered.

"She did say something about needing to see the nurse later." Kid pondered.

"Why would she go see the _nurse_?" Excalibur continued to lean on his cane.

"Nygus wants to check to see if her stitches are ready to come out or not." Kid looked at the creature standing in front of him.

"She got hurt?" Excalibur looked at the child.

"Yes." Kid nodded.

"Would she be there now?" Excalibur looked around for any signs showing the way to the hospital wing.

"No, not till later… she does seem to hang out on the balcony a lot though." Kid looked at the ceiling as he thought.

"Thank you." Excalibur immediately turned around and ran off, making haste toward the balcony.

Excalibur slowed to his normal, leisurely, pace as he saw the double doors which marked the place as the balcony entrance.

He looked around as he stepped onto the large overlook and saw someone dressed to his specifications.

As he approached the teen, he saw three stripes on their neck- slightly lighter than the rest of their skin.

"Neko?" Excalibur looked up and waited for the girl to turn around.

The reaper turned slowly and stared at the weapon for a moment before nodding her respect and turning back around.

"Hello, Excalibur, I thought you went home already." Neko waited and watched from the corner of her eye as the nuisance slowly climbed onto the balcony, turned to face her, and sat down.

"No, I wanted to visit you before I left." Excalibur sighed deeply.

"Is something wrong?" Neko saw that the weapon wasn't acting as proud and flamboyant as normal.

"No." Excalibur looked at her.

"Okay." Neko easily dropped the subject as she turned around and lifted herself onto the edge of the wall so that she could sit next to the man.

Excalibur sat, staring at his friend for a minute, studying and taking note about how depressed she looked.

"So, Death the Kid told me that you've been shutting yourself away lately… what's wrong?" Excalibur placed his cane across his lap and looked at the reaper expectantly.

"I've been distracted." Neko shrugged.

"How?" Excalibur asked, slowly becoming more concerned with how she was doing.

"I've been thinking about stuff." The reaper frowned.

"_What_ stuff?" He could feel himself becoming more exasperated.

"Stuff I don't really want to talk about." The frown deepened and looked away.

"Neko." Excalibur leaned forward, trying to see the girl's face. He righted himself again and looked back at her just in time to see her shoulders quiver slightly. "Neko?" The girl didn't answer. "Neko, I'm sorry."

Neko straightened her back a little bit before leaning backward and falling from the balcony, flipping over halfway down and landing nimbly on her feet, running as soon as she felt her balance catch up with her.

"Neko, wait!" Excalibur jumped from the wall, transforming into a weapon as he fell so that hitting the ground wouldn't hurt him as much.

As he felt himself clatter to the ground he transformed again, running in the direction he saw the reaper take off in.

"Neko? Neko?" He ran through a large crowd, shouting the girl's name repeatedly.

He made his way through the group and kept running, seeing a very large patch of forest in front of him.

Something told him that she had gone into that dark, creepy place.

In his panic he had forgotten about his soul perception. He focused and saw that he was right, Neko was standing towards the center of the woods.

Excalibur ran until he saw the young teen, glaring painfully at a short, thick, tree as her chest rose up and down heavily with sadness and anger.

"Neko?" The man took a step forward but flinched back as he heard the crunch of splintering wood, Neko kicking through the trunk, causing the oak to tumble to the ground.

"I should have helped them!" Neko raged. "I _could have_ helped them!"

Excalibur, for one of the few times in his life, was speechless, having never seen the calm and steady young woman act like this before.

He fumbled through his pockets and eventually pulled out a small, round mirror.

He puffed and wrote the required series of numbers on it quickly, waiting till Lord Death answered.

"Hello?" Lord Death instantly became serious, knowing that Excalibur only ever called in the direst of emergencies.

"Lord Death, I need you down here- its Neko- there's something wrong!" The small creature babbled out in a hurry, his eyes focused on something off screen.

"Okay, I know where you are, I'll be there as soon as I can." Lord Death quickly severed their connection.

Excalibur nodded to no one and stuffed the mirror back into his pocket.

Neko sent several bursts of lightning toward a tree, intently combusting it down to ashes in seconds.

Excalibur took another step back, not knowing what else to do at the moment.

"I could have helped them, but no. I just hid in that corner." Neko blew up another tree; wood splinters shattered and flew at her.

She waved her hands together and apart, creating a wall of electricity which incinerated the wood chips on contact, leaving not even ashes to fall to the ground

"I just stayed in my room while everyone was killed." Neko looked around through her blurry vision, ignoring the tears falling freely down her face.

"Neko-" Excalibur realized what she was talking about. "It's not your fault. There was nothing you could have changed."

"I could have fought sooner- I could have helped them; _saved_ them!" Neko frowned and looked at Excalibur, who was standing across the circle from her.

"_Or_ you would've died and made no difference for them at all." Lord Death appeared next to Excalibur.

Neko stayed quiet for a moment before launching into the air, kicking, and sending a blast of lightning from the toe of her shoe, cleanly cutting a tree vertically in half.

"Neko, stop that, now!" Lord Death ordered, he bounced over to the shaking child and patted her back, saying nothing.

"I should have done something." Neko whimpered and turned into Death's cloak, feeling like a young kid as she tried to seek shelter and comfort in the black cloth.

"From what I've heard, there was nothing you could have done… you're lucky to be alive right now." Lord Death slowly sat down, letting the girl follow and bury herself into his cloak.

"Fool! You did more than should have been possible!" Excalibur walked up to the duo and patted Neko's leg.

"No. I did what I had to. I did nothing to push myself to help anyone else." Neko sobbed into the black fabric.

"Fool!" Excalibur whacked the girl in the back of her head with his cane.

"Excalibur, stop doing that." Lord Death scolded.

"Sorry…" Excalibur lowered his cane and stood, watching the two reapers.

"Neko, you know that one day you're going to need to tell your team what happened, so that they can know." Death rubbed Neko's back in soothing circles.

Neko nodded in response.

"Neko, you have to do that this week." Lord Death stopped rubbing and relaxed his hand so that the girl could sit up.

Neko stared at him in surprise for a second before a determined look set in her eye. "I'm ready. I'll tell them what happened to my family."


	36. The Secret of Silence

_Iron-Gear Sepant; I really hope this is better- I agree, it was a bit rushed. If you have any ideas after this, don't hesitate to PM me and let me know. Thank you for the constructive criticism- it helped._

_Warning: This chapter contains extreme violence and graphic images. (As I know that this will not deter you from reading; please enjoy.)_

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><p><strong>Chapter 36: The Secret of Silence (The story before the prologue?)<strong>

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><p>The group slowly gathered, all in a cheerful mood as they had completed Soul Resonance together.<p>

"You guys, Neko wants to talk to you about something." Stein motioned to the nervous and fidgeting girl standing next to him.

The group looked at her and slowly picked up on the underlying serous tone emitting from the reaper.

"You can all sit down; I'm not sure how long this will take." Neko barely made her voice break past a whisper.

The friends sat down, still watching her as they moved.

Neko followed their lead, sitting down in the soft, rubbery grass, "I need to tell you all about something before it leads to any trust issues… you also have a right to know; you're my friends and I believe that you are entitled to know…" Neko paused and looked at Kid. "About my past… about what happened the night I came here."

There was an audible inhale of breath from the group, all of them waiting with anticipation to hear the story they had all wondered about.

"It's not, by any means, heroic or majestic," Neko frowned. "It was a massacre, in all actuality."

"We're ready." Black Star announced, the rest of the group nodded in agreement.

Neko chuckled before looking up at them, "Are you?"

There was no reply as there was none to be given, everyone could personally answer with one word; _maybe_. And try to ignore the question that was picking away at them as they tried to sit still; _Are we?_

"I miss them _so _much." Neko gazed longingly at the ground before starting her story.

"It had been a normal day; my father had been training me in new techniques, we would always go to the woods behind the house to train. He would show me different ways to fight and ways to pull electricity out of my surroundings so that I could use them." Neko chuckled, "The first time I actually succeeded in doing anything like that, I didn't know how to control the power I'd gotten, I released it exactly where I _didn't_ want it to go… which ended in my dad crashing through a few trees. He was surprisingly proud… even though he had to buy new clothes."

Neko paused, off in her own world, before snapping out of it and continuing; "I had played and teased my sister, normally we would spar of build forts in the living room- pretending we were on secret missions and we would "sneakily" follow one or both of the parents around. Eventually my parents started dumping cups of water on our heads if they found us… it became an even better mission; to follow the parents while keeping them out of reach of any kind of water." Neko smiled at the memory.

"So, did it work?" Patty was obviously getting ideas from the story.

"No." Neko looked at her and laughed, "They started using juice."

The group chuckled at the reply, all imagining Neko getting a cup of juice poured on her head and frowning as the sticky fruit drink dripped off her face and onto her shirt.

Neko continued, "We had dinner and stories together, this was my sister and mine's favorite part of the day, where we would sit on the floor and listen to my dad tell us stories about when he was growing up, the different missions he went on, the trouble he got into with his best friend, Lord Death."

Kid chuckled momentary at this, remembering stories that _his_ dad had told him about the same subject.

"It had truly been a very peaceful day… it was about bedtime, my sister and I had gone to our separate bedrooms, and had gotten under the covers and told good night… sleep tight… don't let the Kishens bite… when it started." Neko paused, sighed, and curled her knees closer to her chest, before continuing.

"I heard the front door break open and shouting going on downstairs…"

Neko straightened up in her bed when she heard the front door splinter.

"Ari, get to the kids, I'll hold them off!" She heard her father yelling in his deep, rumbling voice. "Go!"

Neko leaped from her bed, allowing her blankets to fall to the floor in an ungraceful heap, as she concentrated on getting to the source of the problem, slipping slightly on the cold, hard-wood floor, she made it across her room and ripped open the door, she looked toward the stairwell to see her mother sprinting up the hall way in a panicked state.

"Neko, honey, come with me, we have to hide." Ari ordered and kissed her daughter's forehead before backtracking and running into the younger child's room, where she could be heard waking up the kid and snatching the sleep dazed girl from her bed.

Neko was about to follow her mom into the room when she heard a strange voice chuckling evilly from the base of the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm coming!" the voice hissed.

Neko gasped in terror and ran back into her room, slamming the door so hard that it shook and barring herself against it.

"I'm going to _kill_ you!" The hissing voice was closer, at the top of the stairs next to her room, his footsteps were calm, calculated, as they clicked against the wooden flooring.

"You'll die and I'll eat your soul!" The person pushed strongly against her bedroom door causing it to crack open and allow a small streak of light to light up the floor.

Neko faced the door and put all of her strength against it, desperately trying to hold it closed even though she noticed that the stream of light was getting bigger despite her effort.

A loud crunch and the sound of screeching metal against wood filled her ears.

She suddenly felt a heavy pressure filling up her midsection. She looked down to see a large, think, metal blade shoved through her stomach.

"I got you!" The hissing rang out in a joyous and singsong tone before tearing the sword out of the girl and the door.

Neko gasped as she collapsed to the floor, pain and confusion fogging up her mind.

The door was ripped and thrown from its hinges, landing somewhere on the other side of the room.

A man, whose skin looked sickly grey, offset by his shockingly red eyes, stepped into the room and chuckled at the curled up figure, smiling maliciously, "I found you!" He hissed and stepped closer.

"No, Please!" Neko whimpered and curled farther in on herself.

The man stared at her for a minute before regarding the girl's pleas, "Fine, I'll save you for later."

He exited the room and set off down the hallway, abandoning his attention from the defenseless teen.

Neko laid on the floor, clutching her side and trying to put enough pressure on her wound to stop the bleeding, but it was becoming physically harder to do anything.

She strained to hear anything, but she couldn't; her brain was overloaded, both stunned and trying to process and compute what had just happened.

Suddenly, there was a Kishen in the room beside her, it was powerful, it was insane, it was mean, it was hungry.

Neko groaned in pain and pulled herself into a corner of her room, panting from the simple movement and redoubling over, curling inwards in an effort to stop the bleeding and block out the pain.

She tried to focus on what was happening using her soul perception, but it was useless; her mind couldn't comprehend how to do simple motor skills, let alone something as complex and difficult as soul perception.

She focused harder and managed to get a fuzzy picture of what was happening; the Kishen was downstairs, obviously having thought that she would have been dead soon and that something on the lower level was more important to attend to.

Neko could see that a witch had teamed up with the man and that they were fighting someone…

Her mind went blank, there was static- there was silence.

Neko startled awake, realizing that she had blacked out for a short time, looking at her clock she could see that she had been out about a minute.

She used her soul perception again.

There was only the Kishen and the witch.

A frightened scream followed by a deep, dying, guttural sound echoed the house.

There was now only the Kishen.

No one else was in the house.

There was no more movement.

No more shouting.

No more living.

Death.

Silence.

Neko looked around the dark, moon lit room.

She was alone.

Her chest and abdomen had stopped hurting; she clutched the wall and slowly stood up, stumbling weakly to the doorway.

She paused, waiting, _willing_, for any sound, there was nothing.

Silence.

She limped down the hall and peered dizzily into her sister's room.

There was blood everywhere.

"M-mom?" Neko whimpered, hoping and praying for an answer.

Silence answered her.

She could hear it; the nothing, the death, the silence.

Neko turned away from the blood, the bodies that were now soulless shells; she walked carefully as she treaded down the stairs, holding onto the handrail with an iron grip.

"Father?" The frightened girl got to the landing at the bottom of the stairs and looked around the warzone that used to be her home. "Father, where are you?"

There was a heavy, sickening smell of wet rust clouding the air. Neko looked around the living room, a long, wide smear of red covered the wall, broken glass sparkled along the floor as the moonlight hit it.

"Dad? Neko's voice dropped to a whisper as she approached the kitchen, the smell and amount of blood was increasing.

"Dad? Are you in here?" Neko froze in the doorway; a large stain of red was surrounding a cloaked figure that was lying motionless on the floor.

Neko took a step back and spun around, ready to flee and seek help.

She stopped before she could even take her first step, the Kishen stood, the same manacle grin covering his face, in front of her.

The girl couldn't even blink before the man's hand transformed into a sword and stabbed into her lower abdomen, reopening and widening the gash from before.

The monster pulled the sword back and let it transform back into a hand, smirking as he watched the kid drop to her knees, hugging her middle-section painfully, and staring up at him with horror.

"I'm going to enjoy this." The man chuckled before striking her, sending her crashing into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Ah!" Neko yelped, feeling dazed and overwhelmed by the blows.

"Come here, I'm not done playing with you yet!" The man laughed insanely and walked up to her, staring at her the way a cat does to a mouse.

Neko scowled and focused, summoning all of her energy, and pointed her fingers, sending a thick lightning bolt out and blowing the man across the room.

"Ah! Brat!" The man stood up and crossed the room.

Neko tried to gather strength to defend herself again, but couldn't find any power left in her already depleted form.

"Weak child, did you think that you could beat me? Your idiotic father did too- and look where it got him." The man grabbed her neck roughly and lifted her into the air, cutting off her air supply.

The girl struggled, tearing non-effectively at the man's hands and kicking the air. She felt herself giving up, submitting to her sleepiness, her pain, the silence beckoned warmly to her. She was about to resign herself until her mind clicked, allowing her to understand the insult the Kishen had just hissed.

She felt power surge through her and her mind hatch a plan.

The girl stopped struggling, allowing herself to hang limp in the man's hand.

"Did you pass out?" The man chuckled and shook her like a rag-doll, his grip loosened around the teen's neck when there was no response of any kind.

Neko snapped her eyes open and kicked the man's head sharply, flipping backward as she felt him release her. She landed another round-house kick on the man's jaw, knocking him off of his feet.

"No!" The Kishen leaned and dealt a kick of his own, making the kid fly across the room before hitting and denting a wall, falling to the glass-ridden floor with a thud.

"It was around that time that Stein and Spirit, and Sid and Nygus, showed up." Neko ignored her friend's faces and continued to star at her spot on the ground. "I had barely any idea who they were…"

"Spirit, Sid, Nygus, get the Kishen. I'll take care of the kid!" Stein ordered the group before quickly making his way to the child lying on the ground.

"Hey! Hey!" Stein shook the curled up figure, quietly surveying her wounds and the amount of blood gathering around her.

He felt the body stir under his hand and looked at the girl to see a hand slamming into his chest.

Stein flew across the room and groaned as he tried to pick himself up. _The girl… she just used electricity!_

The scientist looked up to see the girl charging at him, her hand already flickering green and purple with the warning of shocking pain.

"We're on your side!" He found himself calling out desperately to her.

The teen faltered and stopped short when she heard this and saw his hands raised in submission.

Stein waited for her to lower her hand and explained once he saw that the child was listening. "We're from the DWMA. Lord Death sent us."

The girl looked confused until Lord Death's name came up, she nodded slowly with understanding.

"Stein!" Spirit's voice yelled from across the room.

Both the man and the girl snapped their heads around to see the Kishen almost on top of them.

"No!" Stein moved to protect the child, who was obviously the target, and was blown backward as a large blast of soul wavelength erupted in front of him.

"Stein!" The man found Spirit to be crouching next to him, deeply worried.

"T-the girl? Where's the girl?" Stein realized what the blast was; an explosion so large that it could shatter a soul.

If the Kishen couldn't have it, no one could. This had been the Kishen's last attack as Sid had stabbed him and killed him a second before he hit the ground.

Spirit looked around and pointed to an area of the room where the roof looked like it was ready to cave in.

Stein used his soul perception and scowled as he saw a large, deadly crack jutting into the girls soul.

"I'll take her back to Lord Death…" Stein ran over and scooped her up, "you all need to stay here and do your best to clean up." Stein didn't wait for an answer before running out the door and leaving the group.

"The rest is all what happened here; recuperating, basically." Neko shrugged and looked at her friend's for the first time since starting the story.

The group looked at her solemnly, respect and admiration deep in their gaze.

"Whoa…" Black Star frowned. "You're almost as amazing as me!"

"Maka Chop!" Maka slammed a thick book into the egomaniac's head and turned back to the reaper.

"Thank you for explaining that…" Kid nodded. "It helps us understand a lot."

Neko nodded back, frowning at the flashbacks she had just experienced

"Come on, we need something to cheer us up, let's go get some ice cream." Soul stood up and waited for a second before adding, "Is that okay with you, Neko?"

Neko smiled and nodded.

Kid immediately stood up and leaded his hand to help the fellow reaper up.

Neko took his hand and allowed him to pull her up, not surprised at all when he didn't let go.

"So?" Neko asked, looking at the boy.

"Thank you for explaining… I'm glad you're… okay." Kid frowned, obviously not knowing what to say.

Neko nodded.

Kid stared at her, realizing that this wasn't enough. He leaned in and kissed her gently cheek.

Neko's eyes opened slightly at his movements.

"I'm _very_ happy you're still here." Kid smiled.

Neko smiled back.

"Hey, you two coming?" Maka shouted, already far away from the two teens.

"Yeah." Neko chuckled, allowing herself to hang onto Kid's hand as they walked to the ice cream shop.


	37. Last Mission with Justin

**Chapter 37: Last Mission with Justin (Fighting Giriko again?)**

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><p>"So we're here to help you fight?" Justin stood next to Sid, yelling loudly.<p>

Neko sighed before reaching out and ripping the head-phones from his ears.

"Hey!" Justin spun angrily around, glaring at the shorter teen, "I thought I told you to stop doing that!"

"You did…" Neko nodded and returned his glare with her own icy, emotionless gaze. "And I will… as soon as you learn to stop yelling."

"Fine!" Justin spun back around while putting his ear-phones back into place.

The boat was silent for a few seconds, the sound of the boat cutting through the waves and the sound of stray gulls chirping, was the only sound.

"So what's our strategy?" Justin asked, surprising many people by his calm, quiet voice.

Neko lean forward again, tearing the head-phones from his ears once more.

"Agh!" Justin turned around furiously. "Why did you do it _this_ time?"

Neko still held the music transporters and looked at him with an amused smirk. "First; it'll help you hear a reply better after you ask a question. Second; …it's fun to watch your reaction."

"Its _fun_?" Justin lost his air of calm.

"Yes- what you're doing right now amuses me." Neko's smirk widened.

Justin said nothing but stepped forward and swung his fist out.

Neko caught it without looking; "Now you'll have to try harder than that."

"Children!" Sid barked, catching their attention. "Stop fighting." He sounded worried.

Neko chuckled and handed Justin back his ear-phones, helping him stand up in the rocking boat.

Justin smiled back and let his music flood back into his ears.

"We're here!" Someone from ahead announced, pointing to a dark island not far ahead.

Neko tapped her weapon's shoulder and, once he had turned to face her, mouthed "We're here." and pointed forward.

Justin turned in the direction his meister was pointing and saw the looming spot of land close by.

"You two," Sid addressed the reaper and guillotine. "Once we land, go find and attack enemy troops."

"We will." Neko frowned and nodded, completely serious.

"Good." Sid nodded.

"It's a good thing I brought my snow mobile than, huh?" Justin smiled.

Neko nodded.

The boats landed.

"Okay, you guys go on ahead." Sid nodded to the pair as a shoulder brought out a black, white, and gray snow mobile.

The pair nodded with understanding while Justin climbed onto the machine and started the engine.

"You be careful, 'kay?" Sid shook Neko's hand.

"Not a problem as long as you do the same." Neko nodded before turning around and jumping onto the mobile, swinging her arms around Justin's waist just as the machine lurched forward into action.

"So where are we going first?" Justin shouted behind him, unaware that his voice was being carried away by the wind.

Neko caught brief sounds of his question and let her mind fill in the blanks. "Let's go to the top of that hill, we can see more." She pointed to the top of a very large hill a few hundred meters away.

Justin nodded and accelerated towards their destination.

Neko held on tighter, gripping on to the weapon's robes as she felt herself slipping off the snow mobile due to the drastically sharp incline of the hill.

"Hang on, we're almost there!" Justin revved the motor and let the machine jump the last few feet and slide to a neat stop on a ledge near the top of the hill.

Neko let go of the priest and slid off the snow bike, looking over the ledge at the steep drop down before turning into more of a steep hill than a cliff.

"I don't see anything." Neko suddenly had to shout over the loud, thumping-base, music that Justin was now blaring out of the multiple speakers.

Justin sighed in disappointment.

Neko turned and looked back over the edge, occasionally glancing up at the menacing black tornado near the center of the island. She could feel a deep rumbling sound but dismissed it as Justin's music.

"Neko!" Neko spun around only to be ripped from her feet and thrown behind Justin just as he sped off the edge of the cliff.

"What are you doing?" Neko cried out, hanging on desperately to Justin as they went into a half free-falling, half gliding ride.

"Look behind you!" Justin shouted back, sounding calm but somewhere in his voice was a hint of panic and fear.

Neko glanced behind herself and felt her eyes widen as she saw a thick, deadly, menacing wall of white barreling toward them.

She held back a plea for him to go faster, because she knew that he had already floored the gas pedal and was doing everything he could to keep them ahead of the avalanche.

They landed harshly at the bottom of the cliff, but speed and fear kept them going.

They reached the crest of another hill and frowned as they looked down at a small group of people.

"I apologize!" Justin shouted. "I turned my music on and it seems to have caused an avalanche!"

Neko studied the men and realized who they were, but as she went to warn Justin she heard him talk again.

"It looks like I've stumbled across some enemy troops." Justin frowned before realizing what was about to go wrong and that he was to late to stop it.

He felt the snow catch up with the back treads, causing the tires in front to turn from the sudden weight change.

"Neko!" He whipped around and grabbed Neko's wrist, feeling her do the same, and shot a guillotine blade into the branch of a strong tree.

He lifted them from the bike but as his legs left the seat, he could feel the strength of the suction of the avalanche.

He held onto Neko tightly as the snow engulfed them, he could feel grip weakening on both sides of the hold and wanted to say something, anything encouraging, to the girl stuck even deeper in the bombardment, but knew that if he opened his mouth, he could drown from the large amount of snow shoved down his throat, if nothing else there was a large possibility that if he opened his mouth, his jaw would break.

Suddenly it was clear, large piles of snow was mounded around the tree and there was a large clearing beside it.

"Oh, god, have mercy on my precious snow mobile, it was swallowed by the avalanche!" Justin sent out a prayer.

Neko and Justin looked around the clearing and noticed a man who seemed to be shivering and growling at the same time.

"Get out of that tree, you stupid brats," The man ordered. "I'm gonna saw you to pieces!"

"Oh, my! We meet again, do we?" Justin looked calmly down from his hanging spot on the tree, tightening his grip on Neko at the same time so that she didn't fall and be left alone to the saw-weapon.

"Justin, transform." Neko ordered.

Neko fell softly to the snow pile not far below her, allowing Justin to finish his transformation onto two knife-like blades that were attached to flexible chains.

"Come on, I beat you last time, I'll do it again!" Giriko challenged the young girl as she leaped nimbly from her perch on the snow mound, landing quietly a short distance from him.

Neko moved her hand and lower arms back and forth, making them spin.

The blades spun at different times, one would be on bottom, the other on top, and then opposite the next half-second.

"Bring it!" Giriko allowed his saw chains to roar to life, spinning around his legs at a speed that matched and exceeded Neko's twirling blades.

Neko spun her feet expertly and bent backward as the blades spun in circles above her, she stood up and spun around flipped away as the chain-saw tried to catch her.

She spun and stopped, grabbing one part of the long chain and letting the other part shoot out at the man.

Giriko dodged.

As the blade swung back at Neko, she twirled the other blade and let it go, catching the other part of the chain, near the blade, as she did.

"You've gotten better…" Giriko growled, moving his head just enough so that only a few clumps of his short hair got cut by the blade.

Neko smirked at his comment and jumped, flipping backward over the swinging chain as it came back at her. She caught the other blade handle in her hand and held the handles of the two knives while swinging the long, seven-foot chain around her body expertly, twisting and turning until her act looked more like a complicated dance than a martial arts form leading up to a power-filled attack.

"Whatcha doin' now, you cocky brat?" Giriko ran at the miester, his chain-saw's rearing faster.

He kicked at her head as she was turning to face him and gasped when she jumped up, having already anticipated this, and flipped backward, landing a heavy upper-cut kick to the his jaw along the way.

Giriko arched into the air and landed on his back, sliding to a stop.

He laid there stunned and moved to get up, a knife stuck in to the ground less than an inch away from his head and a second later he could feel the stinging pain in his ear where the knife had clipped him.

"You missed!" He laughed, ignoring the fact that he now had a cut in the side of his ear. He was staring at the girl and failed to see the other knife, flying horizontally for his chest.

The man saw the blade out of the corner of his eye and turned away just enough so that the blade ripped through his arm instead of his chest cavity.

"Darn you!" Giriko cursed the girl and stood up, tearing through the snow and throwing it around the clearing.

Neko charged at the man and delivered a kick to his temple, forcing him to the ground.

Giriko groaned and tried to roll away but felt something blocking his way.

He looked up and opened his eyes to see a guillotine blade set above him, held by wooden guiders.

"You have been judged… guilty." Neko frowned.

Giriko swiped expertly at the leg of the neck shackle and cut it away, ignoring the yelp of pain emitted from the weapon set up above him.

The man jumped up and recovered, listening to what was happening behind him.

"Justin, are you okay?" Neko looked at the weapon that was slowly transforming back into a chain and knives.

"Just keep fighting." Justin ordered, blowing off the girl's question.

Neko turned around and was flung back around by a sharp punch to the face.

She stumbled and refocused her vision, turning around to see another punch already too close to block or avoid.

"Ah!" Neko stumbled backward again and fell onto the ground.

"Looks like the tables have turned, huh?" Giriko moved in to kick the girl, his chain-saw roaring around his leg.

"No." Neko answered before swinging her weapon, the knife she threw out stuck deeply into the tree across the clearing. "Justin, shorten chain length!" Neko ordered, being pulled away from her spot on the ground just as the man's leg flew into the area.

"Good, now," She pointed one knife at Giriko and caught the other one in her hand, after it pulled itself from the tree, holding it horizontally, pointing into her arm. "Law Abiding Silver Gun!"

A bright flash blew in front of her, throwing and burying Giriko into a snow mound.

"How long are you going to lay there in the snow? I'm not ready to bury you yet." Neko called out, sighing as the man's head disappeared under the snow.

"Justin, shift into a guillotine blade." Neko muttered, hoping that the man wouldn't hear them.

"…Okay…" Justin shifted slowly.

"Justin, stop." Neko ordered, stopping the weapon from shifting forms.

"Why?" Justin sighed.

"You're hurt." Neko frowned, concerned about where, and how badly, he had taken the saw attack.

"That doesn't matter." Justin argued.

"It does to me." Neko gripped him tightly and caught movement out of the corner of her eye.

She whirled around and kicked, sending the Giriko-shaped pile of snow scattering to the ground.

"Snow man decoy? Oh, that's right," Neko frowned, "he's a puppeteer."

Suddenly ten other snow men shaped from the snow, surrounding the girl.

"These are nothing but cheap knock-offs." Neko muttered, sending a pulse of electricity that made each snow pile explode.

"Well, that's disappointing… he turned tail and ran again." Neko frowned at the small metal gear dropped in the snow.

"We should go… go find the others…" Justin suggested, his voice made it obvious that he was fighting to stay conscious.

"Yeah." Neko frowned, knowing that he would fight her every inch of the way back if she suggested that they go back to the boats for help.

She turned to leave and looked up at the sky as something caught her eye.

"The retreat signal!" Neko looked at it with surprise, disappointment dropped into her heart, knowing that the team hadn't gotten it.

"Let's get back quickly then. We don't want to hold them up." Justin suggested.

"Sure." Neko agreed quickly, knowing that she could help Justin once they were back to the boats.

Neko took off running, jumping and sliding over and down the slope.

She picked up speed as she allowed her shoes to slip around on the icy layer of snow.

Her foot suddenly made contact with a rock, hidden just under the surface of the white powder and ice.

"Ahh!" Neko cried and she flew forward, flipping and bumping down the rocky hill.

"Whoa!" She crashed into someone and felt herself quickly losing speed as she and the mystery person rolled down the hill.

She heard the scrape of metal and worried for a second that Justin had transformed and was injuring himself further by trying to save her, she realized that Justin was tucked safely next to her chest and looked to the side she heard the noise on to see a sword, grating along the ground as a helper to stop their momentum.

Not long after seeing the blade, did the person and she come to a stop. Both of them groaned in soreness of the fall and in the sudden shivers they received as the freezing cold caught up with them and their soaked clothes.

Neko looked around at her surroundings and realized that she was upside down, her head farther down the incline than her feet. _Well, at least we got down the hill._ Neko sighed and began to get up when it hit her that someone else had been knocked down with her.

She propped herself on her elbows and moved to get up but stopped when she heard the ring of a sword being pulled from its sheath and the cold, unbiased, hardness of the metal weapon against her throat.

"Who are you?" A calm voice demanded, obviously very caught off guard from the collision.

"I'm Neko." Neko grasped her weapon tighter and looked up to stare at a man with creamy wheat colored hair, a simple white, long sleeve, shirt, and jeans, two large bags of swords were strapped to him.

The man studied her for another second before putting his sword away and holding out his hand to help the young girl up.

"Who are _you_?" Neko redirected the question while being pulled up.

"I'm Mifune." He bowed.

"Nice to meet you, I'm sorry about what happened just now, are you okay?" Neko looked around and noticed a deep, crimson dyed, gash around his arm, and specks of flaking rusty brown around his forehead.

"Yeah." He replied politely, trying to ignore the girl's concerned look.

Neko reached out and grabbed the scratch.

Mifune flinched back, expecting her to either attack or freak out, but the girl didn't, she curled slightly around his arm, he could feel a tingling sensation riding up his arm and spreading through his body.

When Neko pulled away, the wound was gone; the only hint that it had been there was the torn, bloody sleeve of his shirt.

"What did you do?" Mifune looked from the girl to his arm and repeated the process over and over.

"I healed it, using electricity." Neko smirked.

"Amazing." The man smiled back, impressed that a teen would know how to do such a thing.

Neko smiled back before remembering the object she held in her hand. "Justin!"

"Huh?" Mifune frowned.

"Again, my apologies, hope you don't feel too sore later. I gotta go." Neko spun away and ran, continuing down the hill, before the samurai could say anything.

Neko sprinted through the snow, sliding and balancing until she skidded to a stop in front of the boats.

"Oh, good, we were worried that we'd have to send out a search party." A man approached her and frowned, looking around. "Where's the snow mobile?"

"It was lost in the avalanche." Neko frowned back. "I hate to cut anything short, but I need to get below deck to take care of my partner, _now_."

The man immediately turned around and yelled for everyone to make a hole, guiding the girl and her weapon down the stairs to a small bed with bandages and hydrogen peroxide set next to it.

"Thank you." Neko nodded and waited for the man to leave.

"Justin, transform." Neko ordered the teen as she set the guillotine blade on the bed.

Slowly, but surely, the boy changed into human form, revealing a cut that ran up the length of his arm.

Neko sighed at the sight of how bad it looked and leaned over, gathering wraps and cleanser.

"I don't need that." Justin argued weakly, holding up his good arm and leaning away slightly.

"That's a lie, and you know it." Neko frowned.

Justin opened his mouth to reply but closed it again. He opened his mouth a second time and the slightest squeak came from his throat- he closed his mouth again. He opened it once more-

"Stop, you remind me of a fish." Neko frowned and pulled back his baggy sleeve, exposing the deep cut.

She dumped the hydrogen peroxide on it and allowed it to clean the wound before doing the same thing as she had done with Mifune, holding and bending over her weapon's arm and slowly using the electricity from the area to completely knit the muscle, tissue, and skin back together, leaving bruising and small traces of scarring.

Justin stared at his arm for a minute before looking back up at Neko. "Thank you." Justin said soberly.

Neko nodded and carefully put the bandages away before sitting with him on the small bed, waiting for the ship to land and stop rocking.

* * *

><p>"Neko, Justin, Lord Death wants to speak with you immediately." Spirit met the pair inside the gate of Death City.<p>

The teens looked at each other in question, either wondering if the other had done something. When they picked up that both were thinking the same thing, they shrugged and proceeded to follow Spirit.

"So, why does he want to talk to us?" Neko walked just behind Spirit as the traced through the halls leading to the Death Room.

"All he would tell me is that it was about your partner-ship." Spirit answered.

Neko frowned.

Justin picked up on Neko's concern and patted her back.

The girl turned and looked at him with an encouraging smile.

"Go on ahead." Spirit opened the thick, tall door and waved them inside, letting go of the door and turning around to go search for his Maka as soon as the pair were into the hall.

"What do you think this could be about?" Justin looked down at his miester.

"I'm not sure." Neko shrugged and looked ahead, staring at Lord Death who was standing on his stage waiting for them.

"Yes?" Neko and Justin walked slowly up the steps and onto the stage.

"Umm…" Lord Death was obviously waiting for Justin to remove his headphones, but just as he was saying this, the teen voluntarily removed his ear phones, shut off his mp3 player and stored it all in a small chest pocket.

Justin glanced at Neko and smiled proudly when he saw her surprised gaze.

"Okay, then," Lord Death clapped his hands and pointed at the two teens, "I wish to inform you that you are no longer partners."

"_What_?" The pair looked at him with mixed feelings, both also surprised that the reaper didn't try to beat around the bush at all.

"Well I never said that you would always be partners." Lord Death shrugged.

"I would have thought you'd give us more time to prepare than this!" Justin frowned.

Neko nodded in agreement.

"Come to think of it, I don't think I ever really matched you up as partners- you were just sent on missions together." Lord Death shrugged.

Now that the meister and weapon thought about it, they realized he was right; they had never truly been matched as partners, they were just compatible enough to do so.

"Justin, I'm afraid that, due to the rise in insanity and the search for Kishen Asura, you will be required to report back to Europe." Lord Death informed the teen.

Justin nodded and bowed, "Yes, my lord."

"Neko, go home and get some rest- between us, I've heard that Kid's been worried because he never saw you during the mission." Lord Death spoke quietly.

The girl nodded before turning to Justin, "I'll miss you."

Justin had his ear-phones back in his head, but nodded in reponse before turning his music off again. "If you need a Death Scythe when you become a complete reaper, I'll be here if you want me." Justin said before turning his music back on and leaving the room without another word.

Lord Death and Neko watched him leave before turning to look at each other and shrug.

"I guess that's his way of saying, 'I'll miss you too'." Lord Death suggested.

Neko shrugged again and waved goodbye before also leaving the room, instead using the mirror beside her and entering the house that way instead of walking all the way home.

"Kid, I'm home!" Neko shouted as she softly closed the door to Lord Death's room.

"Neko!" Patty was up the stairs and had wrapped her arms around her within a few seconds.

Liz followed suit.

Kid was last up the stairs, it was obvious that he had been running as fast as he could, but wanted to look calm and professional.

"Hey." Neko smiled as she closed the distance and gave Kid a long hug.

"I was wondering when you'd be back." Kid smiled.

"I'm back now." Neko shrugged.

"Yes." Kid pecked a kiss on her lips.

"Get a room!" Patty shouted before falling over in a fit of giggles.

"We're having ice cream and watching a movie downstairs, do you want to join?" Kid invited.

"As much as I'd love to, I'm really tired." Neko gave a small smile.

"Okay." Kid didn't look disappointed, much to her relief, and smiled, "I hope you have a nice rest."

Neko smiled back, "You too." She nodded before receding to her room, hoping that there would be no problems during the next few weeks.


	38. The Mime

****_For this chapter, it would be my honor to thank Iron-Gear Serpant for their help in writing this chapter; thank you for helping me through my writers block!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 38: The Mime (Last Mission with Kid?)<strong>

* * *

><p>Neko and Kid walked slowly, side-by-side, their hands intertwined as they traveled down the hall that emptied into Lord Death's stage room.<p>

It had been only a few days since the battle for brew and since the fight; nothing had come up, except for one small, horrific, pest. It was for that reason that Neko and Kid and been summoned to the Death Room on that lovely day, to be assigned to get rid of the flaw.

"A problem, father?" Kid frowned at his dad's troubling words.

"Yes, there's a small village in the jungles of South America, it seems that a kishen egg has been noticed in that area." Lord Death answered seriously. "According to all data, the village had already been wiped out by this thing and it apparently waits for people, reinforcement, other tribes, lost people, or tourists, to come to it- rather than go out and hunt."

The teens frowned at this unusual news as it was more common for a kishen egg to go out hunting for more souls than waiting for ones to come it.

"What's so bad about this one?" Neko asked, knowing that Lord Death was holding something back that he didn't really want to share.

"No one can catch it." Lord Death answered.

"Just that? All you need to do is go to the village and walk around, if there's any sound made- you know it's the kishen egg." Kid shrugged.

"That's just it, Kiddo. It doesn't make any sound- you can only find it by seeing it, and if you see it, you're probably going to die." Lord Death said flatly.

"How can it not make sound?" Neko shivered, feeling the fear of silence slowly staring to crowd her mind.

"It's a mime." Lord Death's voice indicted that he was frowning underneath his mask.

"A… mime?" Neko backed up a step, now wanting nothing to do with this mission.

"Neko, it'll be okay." Kid grabbed her hand and pulled her to his chest, wrapping his arm around her at the same time, in an effort to calm the girl.

If Lord Death noticed the romantically friendly action, he wasn't saying anything about it.

"When do we have to leave?" Kid looked up from the girl and stared at his father.

Lord Death was quiet for a long time before answering, "Immediately."

Kid nodded and turned away, holding and reassuring Neko as they left the room.

Death sighed._ They'll survive…_ He reassured himself,_ They'll be perfectly fine, nothing will happen; they'll go- defeat the kishen egg- and come back, safe and sound…_ But somewhere in Lord Death's mind, he knew that he probably wouldn't see one of them, alive, again.

* * *

><p>"A mission, a mission, we're going on a mission!" Patty giggled as she skipped around in a circle.<p>

"So Kid, why aren't you bringing any clothing or stuff?" Liz crossed her arms and looked at her miester.

"The mission shouldn't take long." Kid shrugged.

"What kinda kishen egg is it? What's so special 'bout this one?" Patty asked, having seen that something was bothering Kid about this mission.

"Its killed a lot more people than one usually can before being detected." Kid frowned, giving her an answer even if it wasn't the complete story.

"Oh… well, are we gonna be able to beat it?" Patty's question was innocent but still caught Kid by surprise, the realization that he wasn't as sure about himself this time shocking him.

"… Yes Patty, of course." Kid frowned and turned away slightly, showing that he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Are you ready?" He turned even more when he saw Neko, dressed in her normal black clothing.

"Yeah." Neko nodded, having had Kid cheer her up from her worries and fears.

"Good." Kid smiled. "Liz! Patty!" Kid turned and caught his weapons as they transformed, twirling them around expertly in his fingers, and summoned his skateboard.

"Come on." Kid offered his hand to Neko, as Neko took put her hand in his, Kid pulled her up to his chest and gave a deep kiss, longer than his usual pecks.

"What was that for?" Neko looked him with confusion and happiness.

"We won't see each other until we land, and who knows what will happen after that." Kid smirked.

"I'll accept that excuse." Neko stood on the skateboard behind Kid and leaned over his shoulder, pecking his cheek.

"And what was_ that_ for?" Kid's voice was filled with humor.

"Can I say that it was for the same reason?" Neko smirked behind Kid.

"I'll accept that excuse." Kid smiled. "Hang on."

Neko giggled and held on tightly to Kid's waist as Beelzebub lifted them into the air and started its flight to the small village.

* * *

><p>"Here we are." The skateboard landed with a soft clack onto the solid dirt and stone outskirts of the village. It disappeared into Kid's hand just as the two reapers stepped off and stretched after the long ride which required standing and straight backs at all times.<p>

The teens looked around, the quaint village looked very beautiful, small rays of sun dripped through the branches of the tall trees over-head and danced along the ground. Small flowers sporting both pastel and neon colors grew in clumps around bushes, vines, and dangled in branches of trees. The rest of the forest was shaded with every kind of green there was, dark greens, light greens, greens that couldn't seem to decide what shade they were, all occasionally catching a yellow ray of sun as it weaved nimbly through the tall trees. The weather was also, surprisingly, perfect; not too hot, too cold, too humid, or too dry.

But there was something about the village, Kid realized, that was dreadfully wrong. There was no sound. No signs of life of any kind. There was silence. Kid suddenly understood why silence scared Neko now, there was a sound to silence, it sounded like death.

Kid walked forward, looking around at the beautiful scenery and also listening for any sounds of life, not even the birds, deep in the forest, were chattering back and forth.

"Kid!" Kid spun around at the sound of Neko's startled voice and saw a person, slowly approaching Neko, it's face was painted and it had a long, thick, black blade attached to the arm where the hand should have been.

The mime was acting like it was pulling a rope and was slowly approaching Neko, it's black, soulless, eyes seemed to glint with hunger, joy, and anticipation.

"Come on!" Kid turned his body and motioned for her to run with him.

"I- I can't!" Neko cried.

Kid looked closer and saw that her body was set in a position that made her look like she was tied up with invisible rope.

"Dang it, get away from her!" Kid shot at the man just as his arm carrying the blade was rising above his head, preparing to strike.

The soul bullets hit the man's chest and caused him to stumble back a few steps.

Neko moved away at the same time, apparently having the bond broken.

The mime moved its hands to its cheeks and puckered it's lips into an 'O', to express that it was surprised, it saluted 'good-bye' and turned, it walked and made itself look like it was walking down a flight of stairs, it walked into the ground.

"That's why it's so hard to catch!" Neko stood close to Kid. "It's a mime- what it acts, comes true."

"Hey!" Kid turned around and saw the mime, running into the village.

The two reapers chased it into the streets, looking back and forth in the wide pathways that separated the small huts from each other.

"Where'd he go?" Neko looked around, seeing no sight of the man.

"I don't know." Kid frowned. "Liz, Patty," He tossed his weapons in the air and waited until they had transformed and were standing in front of him. "I want you to go search together, if you see anything, yell for us." Kid pointed in a direction that the sisters could go.

"Right!" They nodded; Patty transformed and waited for Liz to catch her.

"Good luck." Kid nodded before grabbing Neko's hand and pulling her into the opposite direction.

"So, where do you think it could be?" Neko studied the rooftops and streets ahead while Kid studied the doors and windows and the streets behind him.

"I'm not sure." Kid frowned.

"There he is!" Neko shouted before sending out a lightning bolt which knocked the man into a wall of a hut, leaving a deep dent that crumbled enough to expose the interior of the home.

The mime stood up and frowned dramatically before running at them.

"No, that's far enough." Neko put together walls of electricity and blocked the man inside.

The mime was careful not to put his hands on the box but put his hands up, feeling the powerful force around him.

"Hey, look Neko, it's a mime literally stuck in a box." Kid couldn't help but smile at the slight irony.

The mime suddenly waved his hands, causing the electricity to vanish.

Neko frowned; surprised and worried by the fact that the man had been powerful and skilled enough to deactivate something like that.

The mime stared at them for a second, debating wither to attack or run, before turning on his heels and running into a house.

"Get back here!" Kid ran in after it, Neko following closely, and cautiously, behind.

The mime whipped around in the small hut, apparently realizing that it was trapped. It stared at the two teens standing in the door way and raised its bladed arm to attack when its head suddenly jerked to the side and a dark smile spread across its lips.

Neko aimed to fire, preparing to let the power building up in her hand escape, when there was a loud bang and she stumbled backward as debris rained down on her, the mime having moved, jumped, and forced its way through the ceiling faster than she could blink.

"Where's he going?" Kid looked at the hole, squinting at the blinding bright sunlight that was now streaming through the thatched roof.

"I'm not sure." Neko also looked at the hole that made an oxymoron of the idea of a roof.

Kid turned around in the small space and looked attentively at the door.

"What?" Neko froze and stared at him.

"I thought I heard someone outside." Kid answered, still concentrating.

Neko and Kid seemed to have used soul perception at the same time because they snapped open their eyes and looked at each other. "Patty."

There was only one thing wrong with the picture; Liz wasn't with her.

"Come on! Kid ran to the door and tugged at it, paused, and tugged harder. "It's jammed! Something's blocking the door- how do we get out?"

Neko's face dead-panned and she sighed as she pointed to the giant hole in the structure.

"Oh." Kid frowned, realizing his inability to think outside the box.

Neko jumped nimbly through the hole, followed closely by Kid, and landed softly on the street next to the hut and straightening up to look at Patty.

"Patty, where's Liz?" Kid looked around for any sign of the older sister.

"She's in the court yard, she got scared so she decided to stay there and told me to come find you guys." Patty pointed into a house, which obviously meant that the clearing was in that direction.

The two reapers paled at this news.

"Have you seen the mime at all?" Neko studied the girl carefully, wondering if Patty had been attentive enough to see the mime leave the hut, and if so, which direction it went in.

"No. Why, have you?" Patty looked at the pair with interest.

Kid nodded seriously before he seemed to realize something and turned to Neko with worry, "Do you think the mime knows that Liz is alone?"

The thought had already occurred to Neko, but hearing someone else say it aloud added extra fear to it. She opened her mouth to reply and a shriek of fear filled the air above her, answering the question they had been afraid of.

"That was Liz!" Kid spun on his heels and took off sprinting, followed closely by Neko; Patty was also following but quickly fell behind as the reapers picked up speed.

"Hang on Liz, we're coming!" Neko skidded dangerously around a corner, leaving a large dust trail behind her, and ran faster, matching the other reaper's speed and running side-by-side with Kid.

They rounded corner after corner and, while it felt like forever, took only a few seconds to make it through the maze of huts and make it to the opening of the small town square.

Liz was there, along with the mime.

The weapon seemed to be struggling desperately against her invisible bonds while staring with horror at her capturer.

"Liz!" Kid pushed himself to run faster, trying to keep track of where his feet were and how they had to move to keep him from tripping over himself.

Neko also forced herself to run faster, slowly, step by step, she pulled ahead of Kid in the race to save Liz.

"Ah!" Liz screamed as the large black blade flew down at her and felt her scream end as something plowed into her and knocked the air from her lungs.

"Elizabeth," Kid ran and caught the girl as she flew to the side. The momentum threw them both to the ground and made them flip several times before they skidded to a stop, Liz tucked carefully into Kid's chest.

"Are you okay?" Kid barely loosened his grip on his weapon.

Liz didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Liz, are you okay?" Kid shook her slightly and turned to look at her face, the girl was staring at something around them.

Kid frowned and followed her gaze, it lead him to the mime, Neko was standing there as well. _Why is Neko so close to that thing? Why isn't it attacking her?_ Kid continued to look at the odd sight and realized what had happened.

Kid jumped to his feet, letting Liz roll off of him before doing so, and stepped closer.

The mime looked at him from the distance between them, averting its attention from the girl right in front of it.

"Neko!" Kid waited for a response and felt his knees almost buckle as the girl's body slid limply down and off the edge of the mimes blade before collapsing to the ground like a rag doll.

The mime stared at the body for a second before turning towards Kid.

"Liz!" Kid picked the weapon off the ground and started running, looking for his other weapon around the courtyard.

"Patty!" Kid spotted the younger sister in the entrance he and Neko had used, running for him as he did the same.

"Okay!" The two weapons transformed into Kid's signature pistols with a flash of pink light.

"Let's go, soul resonance!" Kid shouted, spinning around to face the kishen egg which was slowly making its way toward the boy.

Kid strengthened his leg posture and aimed the two large cannons at the mime, "Death Cannon!" The power in the shot drove Kid backward as it ripped though the air and into the would-be-kishen.

As the smoke and dust cleared, a mangled figure stood, silhouetted in the grey dust.

"What? That didn't kill him?" Kid took at step back as he saw the mime still standing, it's arm that didn't hold a blade was gone, the side of its face was black and red, showing it's sharp teeth.

"Liz, Patty, we need to resonate our souls again!" Kid took another step back.

"We can't! We put so much power into that shot." Liz answered.

"Don't shoot, wait for a few seconds- we should be able to do something." Patty added.

"Okay." Kid tucked his arms in front of his face, protecting it as he ran at the man.

The man dodged to the left and swung his blade, catching the edge of Kid's shoulder as he did so.

"Ah!" Kid stumbled before turning to look at the monster again. He ran faster and sent a strong, powerful kick across its exposed jaw, cracking teeth and sending it to the ground.

The mime recovered quickly and swung it's blade around, letting it sink into the boy's calf.

"Ah! Is it ready, guys?" Kid jumped away from the mime and waited for his weapons reply.

"Yeah, it'll be close, but we can do it." Liz answered.

"I don't care right now, ready; Soul Resonance!" Kid stood ready as the mime charged for him.

"Death Cannon!" Kid aimed directly at the kishen egg's head and struggled to stay in place as the blast sent him backward.

Kid watched seriously as the smoke and dust cleared to reveal a deep red orb, floating where the man had just been.

Kid tossed his weapons over his shoulders and walked up to the orb slowly, studying it before holding his hand up to the object and collecting it. "I'll save this one for my father."

"Kid?" Liz stood behind him with her sister, quietly looking over the wounds he sustained while fighting the monster.

"I'm fine." Kid turned to face them. "Let's go help Neko, with the time she had, she should be almost completely healed but she could still need some assistance." Kid started walking calmly across the courtyard. "Neko, how're you feeling?" He looked at the form that oddly didn't look like it had moved since the last time he had seen it.

There was no answer to his question.

"Neko?" Kid stopped a few yards away from the girl, sensing that something was horribly wrong.

"Liz, Patty, stay there." Kid held his hand out to tell them to not come any closer.

Kid walked carefully toward the reaper and tried to keep his legs from buckling when he saw how much blood was around her body.

"Kid?" Patty called out, seeing her miesters distress.

"Kid?" Liz yelled louder when her sister got no response from the boy.

"Hey, Neko," Kid felt his legs give out as he tried to get to the girl, knowing that he wouldn't be able to stand up, he crawled slowly over to her.

The cut reminded Kid of Soul's wound when he had protected Maka against the demon sword, but this one was much deeper and much longer, it stretched from Neko's shoulder to the side of her hip.

"Kid, what's wrong?" Liz called out, her voice high with fear; not daring to cross the line kid had set for her and her sister.

"Liz, call my father right now." Kid ordered quickly, still staring at the girl in front of him whose face was getting more pale and whose gash seemed to only bleed faster and in greater quantity the harder he pressed down.

"Neko! Come on, wake up!" Kid took his hands off her chest and shook her, gently at first but escalating to a harder force.

"Kid!" Patty felt worry for her miester take over her childish side as she observed his unusual actions

Neko's eyes cracked open slightly, "Kid?" She was staring at him but her eyes were glazed over.

"Hey," Kid leaned down and hugged her, ignoring the warmth sinking quickly into his clothes. "I've been thinking and, I need to tell you something." Kid pulled away to see her eyes roll back, the girl falling back into unconsciousness.

"Neko? Hey! Neko, I love you!" Kid realized he was screaming as his voice broke.

"I love you." He fell over and rested his head against hers, sobbing silently.

He felt his shoulders buckling painfully as his lungs pushed air out of his lungs in heavy sobs while he also tried to breath.

Tears rolled down his cheeks in large groups, dripping onto Neko's face and deluding the blood, allowing the girl's paling face to show through more clearly.

"Kid?" A voice that shouldn't have been there caught his attention, he ignored it.

"Kiddo?" Lord Death called again from the small, portable, make-up mirror, growing worried and angry that his son was ignoring him so strongly.

"_Death the Kid_!" Death's older, deeper, voice rumbled from the reflective glass, efficiently causing Kid's head to turn and look miserably up towards the figure.

"Kiddo, you've gotta get her back home- the sooner you do that, the more of a chance we have of saving her." Lord Death instructed his son, trying to keep calm while seeing the conditions his child and friends child- scratch that- his second child, were in.

Kid nodded before looking beyond the mirror. "She saved Liz." Kid looked back at his father, smiling slightly. "If she hadn't run in front of that kishen and knocked Liz out of the way- she wouldn't be here."

Lord Death took a deep breath before nodding. "Come home, Kiddo."

Kid nodded before the mirror went blank.

* * *

><p>Shinigami-sama stared at his shocked figure for a second before summoning the hospital wing of the school.<p>

"Yes?" The nurse answered the call.

"Nygus, I need two beds prepared, also- call Stein, we're going to need help. This is going to be the closest call I've ever seen of she makes it." Lord Death ordered vaguely.

"What? Who? Lord Death. What's going on?" Nygus tensed.

"Neko's almost dead. She needs help. My son doesn't look good either." Lord Death used his bouncy tone but sounded very serious none-the-less.

"I got it." Nygus turned around and the relay went blank, allowing Death to stare at his reflection again.

Lord Death searched his mind for people that would worry and come to the school for Neko and instantly came up with one.

The mirror pinged for a few seconds before it was answered, "Hello? Who is this, fool?"

"Excalibur, this is Lord Death." Shinigami-sama answered.

"Oh, sorry. Yes, sir?" The weapon looked at the reaper through his small mirror.

"Excalibur, there's been an accident. Neko's hurt." Lord Death waited for the sword's reply.

"Wh-what? When? Where is she? _How_ is she?" Excalibur blurted questions out one on top of the other.

"Just a little while ago, she was fighting a kishen egg… she… she's probably not going to make it, Excalibur." Death winced as he said that, feeling the pain in his chest as he let the realization sink in that the girl was closer to dying than ever before.

Excalibur was silent for more than a minute before replying, "I'll be there as soon as I can."

The mirror went blank.

Lord Death sighed as he gazed at his reflection again, feeling the worry weigh on his eyelids.

"Death, Lord Death!" Spirits running footsteps and shouts woke the reaper up with a jolt.

"Yes?" Shinigami-sama looked at his weapon.

"It's Kid, he's here." Spirit nodded.

"And Neko?" Death looked at the man.

Spirit frowned. "It's not looking good- at all, sir."


	39. Recovery

**Chapter 39: Recovery (Excalibur- the Teddy Bear?)**

* * *

><p>It had been a few weeks since the mission dealing with the mime, Lord Death had decided to throw a party in Kid and Neko's honor, celebrating that they had survived the ordeal.<p>

"Come on, Kid, just ask her!" Liz urged the nervous miester.

"Yeah, she almost _died_, it's the least you could do- you love her, right?" Patty agreed and lightly pushed the boy toward the other reaper, who was standing just out of earshot, a cream and gray colored dress dancing around her in a symmetrical manner.

"Um… Neko," Kid wrung his hands nervously and looked back at his weapons for assurance.

They both gave enthusiastic thumbs up.

"Do you want to dance?" Kid offered his hand and waited.

"Sure." Neko took his hand and waited for him to start leading, but he just stood there, staring at her in a day-dream like fashion, a small smile still tugging at his mouth.

It was then that Neko could hear Liz and Patty whispering a chant behind her; "Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!"

Neko looked at them before she turned around to say something to Kid but, as the girl turned she felt his lips crash against hers.

Kid pulled her close and held her back and waist as he continued.

"Whoo-hoo!" Patty cheered loudly.

Kid could feel Neko blushing against him as her arms slowly wrapped around him as she kissed him back.

She pulled away after what seemed like forever with a smile and looked up at him, "Kid."

Kid smiled as he looked down at her, suddenly his vision got blurry.

* * *

><p>"Kid? Kid!" Kid woke up to having Patty shaking him roughly.<p>

"What? What, Patty?" Kid winced as Patty's palm dug into his stitched up shoulder.

"Your dad wants to see us- he says that Neko woke up a little while ago!" Patty was smiling widely.

"Really?" Kid sat upright in his bed as he heard this news.

It had been a week since the battle with the mime. It had been a week in which Neko never woke up. Kid would travel through the school to the hospital wing everyday with his father, and everyday Nurse Nygus would inform them that the girl had not woken up at all. She would often try to cheer them up by telling them that Neko's fever had dropped or that her seizures and nightmares had diminished by a little bit. This would only make the pair feel worse.

"Yeah! Come on!" Patty ran out of his room to allow the boy to change into his regular clothes.

Kid threw the covers from his bed and dressed as quickly as possible, ripping himself from his room and tearing down the hall, silently promising to clean his mess up later.

"Liz, Patty, transform, we'll get there faster!" Kid ordered as he pulled his black jacket over his button down white shirt.

"On it!" Liz transformed.

"'Kay!" Patty giggled before also shifting into a gun.

Kid caught them and pulled open the door, jumping over the gate, and sprinting as fast as he could toward the school, feeling that his weapons were just as excited as him for talking to Neko.

Kid smiled at the ideas and pictures that were painted in his mind; talking for hours on end with the girl, being able to bring her home later that day, a calm date to follow some time during the week.

"Ah, Kid, I'm glad you're here." Lord Death bounced a little bit but spoke in a hushed tone.

"Yes, I'm happy you got here quickly." Nygus was standing just inside the doorway, her hand holding the wooden divider closed. "Kid, I need to warn you that you have to talk quietly and that it would be best if you didn't try to hug her or any other kind physical contact."

Kid frowned at this news but still nodded his head in agreement, willing to do anything to see Neko.

"Go, _quietly_." Nygus opened the door to allow the miester and weapon team in but blocked Lord Death at the last second. "You know that she's still in very critical condition, right? She can still die at any time, you know."

"Yes… I want to let him see her though." Lord Death responded in a quiet voice, hoping that Kid wouldn't hear him.

"It's just giving him hope that can be crushed at any second." Nygus argued.

"It's still hope, isn't it?" Lord Death stared at the woman.

"What are you going to do when she dies? Kid'll be a wreck." Nygus retorted, becoming angry by the idea that Death didn't truly care about his son's feelings.

"I- I… I know. But if there's only a little time left, I want him to try to enjoy every second of it." Lord Death looked at his son, frowning as he tried to get past Excalibur to see Neko. "He loves her. I have no doubt about it."

Nygus frowned and allowed the reaper to pass as she realized how worried Lord Death was for the both of the children.

"Come on, let us through, you midget!" Patty raised her voice.

"Fool!" Excalibur smacked his cane against Patty's neck. "Lower your voice!" He whispered strain-fully, wanting desperately to yell at the imbeciles.

"Excalibur, let them by." Lord Death bounced up behind them and stared down at the small creature.

Excalibur stared at the group for a second before waving his cane to the side, "Off with you then!"

Kid walked past and stopped, suddenly not wanting to see Neko at all.

"Kiddo?" Lord Death stepped forward and put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Father, I don't want to see her." Kid looked into the mask with tear filled eyes.

"Come here." Lord Death walked him across the room and sat him in a hard cloth chair.

"What's bothering you now, Kiddo? All through the week you've been talking about nothing but seeing Neko, now that the chance has come, you're so scared you're brought to tears." Lord Death looked across the room, "Look at them," He motioned to Liz and Patty, who were chattering happily with the lying figure while Excalibur watched over the group protectively.

"Dad, what happens if she dies?" Kid looked up at his father as if there was an answer within the holes of his mask.

Lord Death sighed deeply before answering. "Life will go on… somehow. I'll deal with that problem if it ever comes up, I pray that it doesn't."

Kid looked at the floor, wishing that there was a better answer but knowing that it was the best answer out there, to date.

"Come on, go say 'hello'." Lord Death patted Kid's back and stood up with the child, trying to convince himself that he was also ready to interact with the child so close to dying.

"Neko?" Kid slowly approached the bed and nodded his thanks when Patty stepped to the side to allow Kid to stand next to the head of the bed.

"Kid?" A small, weak voice answered his question.

"H- hey." Kid tried to smile but realized that he was failing.

"Hi." Neko smiled. "How're you?"

Kid laughed. "I think you need to worry about yourself more, right now."

"Maybe." Neko tried to shrug but stopped as pain protested her movements and shot down her back.

"Fool!" Excalibur pointed his cane at the bed-ridden girl when he saw that she made a movement that hurt her.

"Shut up." Neko didn't turn her head but snapped sharply at the weapon, causing him to withdraw his cane and back away a few inches.

"Sorry." Excalibur hung his head and walked around the bed to stand next to Lord Death.

"So, you feelin' better Neko?" Patty giggled.

Neko stared at the girl for a second before looking back at Kid, efficiently skipping the need to answer that question.

"Any new missions any time soon for you?" Neko wheezed and forced her eyes to stay open.

"Father has told me that tomorrow; I'll be looking for the last magic tool." Kid frowned.

"Oh… be careful." Neko coughed violently and curled up, trying to do anything to stop the pain from spreading from her lungs.

"Okay, Neko needs her rest." Nygus eyed the fresh layer of sweat that was breaking out across the girl's face.

"'Kay." Patty frowned, also noticing this addition to Neko's list of problems.

Liz nodded and followed her sister out of the room.

"Hope you get to feeling better, Kiddo!" Lord Death gave a thumbs up and patted the side of the reaper's bed before turning around and leaving the room.

"Kid," Neko reached out and grabbed the boy's arm, ignoring the protests of pain screaming through her shoulder as she tightened her hand around his wrist.

Kid turned around and looked down at the shaking girl. "Yes?"

"I just wanted to let you know; I love you too." Neko smiled and let her grip grow tighter before her hand loosened and slipped off of his wrist, thumping dully against the side of the bed.

Kid stared at the girl in shock before turning around and walking out of the room in a daze._ She heard me? And she loves me back? She loves me!_ Kid walked past his weapons and father without any notice and wondered aimlessly through the town, looking at shops and people but not really seeing them.

But… He stopped walking as the revelation hit him and he turned around, heading right back for the school to find his father.

Kid walked quickly through the halls until he came to the Death Room.

"Father," Kid folded his hands behind his back as he ascended the stairs to the top of the stage in the middle of the Kishen graveyard. "I… I need some advice."

Lord Death turned away from his mirror and looked at his son, studying the boy's troubled face.

He motioned for Kid to sit down on the edge of the stage and followed suit, letting his feet and cloak dangle off the edge of the platform.

"What's bothering you, Kiddo?" Death hunched over and looked up; trying to see his son's shaded face.

Kid shrugged, staring at the floor and letting his hair shadow and hide his eyes.

"Kid, I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong, so tell me, what's up?" Shinigami-sama placed a large, gloved hand on the teen's back.

"Dad, I'm scared." Kid looked up at the figure before slowly scooting closer to the older reaper and curling into his cloak.

Lord Death sighed and rubbed his son's back in a calming motion. "I know… I'm worried too."

"What if she dies?" Kid looked up at the skull mask that covered his dad's face.

"We'll get through it." Death nodded.

"How?" Kid frowned deeply.

"I don't know." Death shrugged and chuckled, forcing back any trace of tears from his eyes.

"She told me that she loves me." Kid realized that he was starting to sound more like a young child.

"Yeah, I already knew that she did." Lord Death patted Kid's back.

"Really? Did she tell you?" Kid sat up and looked at his father.

"No, she didn't tell me… it's just obvious; by the way you look at each other." Lord Death chuckled as he saw Kid blush.

"It'll be okay. One way or another." Lord Death stood up. "She won't die."

"How do you know?" Kid stood up and looked at the taller figure.

"Well, she's a fighter." Lord Death nodded. "But don't forget; I'm also the grim reaper, am I not?"

* * *

><p>"Why did you make them leave?" Neko panted heavily and looked at the nurse, who was wringing out a cold wash-cloth.<p>

"Because you need your rest." Nygus glanced up and saw Excalibur sitting on a stool next to Neko's bed, eyeing the girl worryingly.

"Here, this should help with trying to break that fever." Nygus moved to hand the cloth to Neko and found that she had already fallen asleep.

Nygus sighed and turned her attention to the exhausted-looking weapon.

"Excalibur- you should eat, sleep, go stretch your legs; you haven't left this room in four days." Nygus frowned.

"Fool! I need to watch over Neko." Excalibur strained his voice while trying not to yell.

"She's safe here." Nygus placed the wash-cloth on Neko's forehead and watched as the small creature hopped off the stool and walked around the bed.

"I know, but that doesn't help me." Excalibur spoke to Nygus but continued to watch the sleeping girl.

"Excalibur, you've been here for everything that's happened, and every seizure, or fever, or blood-loss, you haven't been able to help." Nygus snapped, angry that the man was being so stubborn.

Excalibur looked up at her and instantly the nurse knew that she had hurt his feelings horribly. "Fool! I know I cannot stop this, but I can sit here and comfort her when these things happen, and I can help wake her with her nightmares, I can get things and do things for her, I'm helpful in a lot of ways towards her, and so I'll stay here- until she tells me otherwise." Excalibur huffed and nodded before turning back around and climbing back onto his stool.

Nygus frowned at the man's reply but knew that she could do nothing to change his decision. "Okay, I'll be back in a little bit to help with medicine and everything, come tell me if any problems come up." The nurse nodded before leaving the room, having several other patents to check up on before heading to her office to finish paper work.

"Uh…" Neko rolled over in her bed and cracked her eyes open to stare at the man sitting on the small chair.

"Shh. Go back to bed, I'm sorry for waking you." Excalibur patted her outreached hand, signaling for it to retreat back to it's owner's body.

But the hand kept coming, and slowly, the fingers gripped his shirt and pulled him, with surpising strength, onto the bed.

"Neko, what are you doing?" Excalibur dropped his cane in surprise and felt a sickening wave of heat hit him as Neko's arm curled around him.

"Nygus won't let me have any stuffed animals." Neko muttered.

"What?" Excalibur looked at her and realized that she was almost asleep, that her weak and childishly innocent side was coming out.

"You're like a teddy bear, Excalibur. A cranky teddy bear." Neko curled closer to him.

"Fool!" Excalibur tried to push himself out of the girls arm.

"Yes, but you're my fool." Neko chuckled.

"On the brink of death, but you can still come up with a good comeback… this is the Neko I know." Excalibur chuckled before resuming his struggling.

"Please stay, Excalibur." Neko was sounding younger by the moment. "You help me sleep better."

Excalibur sighed and stopped struggling.

Neko simply smiled and nodded before falling back to sleep, her grip loosening greatly against the weapon.

It flashed through Excalibur's mind for a brief moment that he could now get off the bed, but something in the girl's pleas had gotten to him, so he simply moved away from the human heater and slept next to her on the bed, forgetting his problems if only for a few minutes.


	40. Battling Asura

**Chapter 40: Battling Asura (Final fight?)**

* * *

><p>Neko sighed as she stared at the ceiling, bored beyond compare.<p>

She had no one to talk to because Lord Death and Kid had been busy gathering things for fighting Asura, Excalibur had left to go who-knows-where, even the amusing Dr. Stein wasn't here; he had decided that this was the right time to go completely insane and leave to somewhere no one could find him at.

She worried about how Black Star and Maka were doing in the battle of Arachne, hoping that they would keep their wits about them long enough to survive. She knew that Justin was now back in America, out there fighting Giriko by himself. Lord Death was obviously somewhere in the school, seeing as he hardly ever left it, and Kid was right next to him currently.

"I hate this." Neko grumbled, looking out the window. "I'm feeling better, why can't they let me do anything?" She asked no one, mentally cursing the fact that she was still too sore to fight.

"My stitches are gone, my casts, IV's, everything… except the bruises." Neko sighed and stared at the room for another second before throwing the blankets away from her body impatiently and swinging her legs over the side.

Neko groaned as she felt her stomach twist awkwardly and strain as she moved and pulled herself to her feet, feeling a wavering lapse of dizziness due to the sudden upright position.

She went to take a step forward and found herself on the floor, the room tilting excessively around her.

_What's going on?_ Neko stayed on the floor, waiting for the dizziness to let up, but it didn't.

Neko stood up carefully, feeling the building rocking violently under her feet. As she did so, she eyed the large shelves filled with heavy metal containers and glass jars, she willed them not to fall as she cautiously making her way to the window, hoping that she'd be able to see something that would give a clue as to what was going on.

She looked out of the window and gasped at what she saw; Death City was moving!

_I've gotta go find Kid, Lord Death, Excalibur- anyone that can tell me what's going on!_ Neko shuffled carefully away from the window and towards the door, using the wall to keep her balance, and praying that nothing would bump any one of her many bad bruises.

Neko walked down the hall, turning corner after corner and climbing staircase after staircase. As Neko approached the halfway mark between the hospital wing and the Death Room, she felt the city suddenly shutter before falling to a stop.

Neko clung to the wall as she waited anxiously for the city to start moving again, but realized what was about to happen when the heavy wavelength of insanity struck her.

"Asura!" The girl growled and moved to run forward when she abruptly realized something; she was still in her gown for the hospital.

The girl held out her hand and waited as black and purple skulls circled her wrist randomly and her old outfit of black jeans and her plaid shirt appeared in her fingers, her brown shoes fall out of nowhere and clunking to the ground.

She sighed before snapping her fingers, instantly changing her outfit and now holding the open gown. Neko stuffed it into a trash can as she walked down the hall at a quicker pace.

Neko focused on the various souls in the Death Room and realized that, suddenly, no one but Excalibur and Asura were moving.

Ignoring the slight pain in her chest, Neko broke out into a run and began sprinting toward the huge doors at the end of the extra long hallway. She could feel Death's soul growing weaker and fainter and after a few seconds, she could feel Kid's soul move again and begin to emit a very deep sadness.

Neko skidded to a stop as she felt Asura leaving the building. _He escaped?_ She began running again and pushed hard against the door, struggling to force it open. The door finally cracked open and Neko was able to slip through the opening.

She didn't need to search for the cause of the blockage as she saw that the guillotines had fallen across the path to the stage, one of them leaned against the door- holding it shut.

The girl took a deep breath and found the electronic signal in the wooden columns; she raised her hands slowly and watched as the large guillotines followed, rising back into place and clearing the path to the Death Room.

Neko relaxed and watched as the beams sunk back into their holes and stood still, waiting for people to start passing under them again. Neko began walking down the path and was careful to now keep her footsteps silent.

She could hear voices speaking about the Kishen and Lord Death as she reached the end of the path and began to sneak through the rubble to avoid being sighted.

"I will take my father's place; he can't fight now but I can. As a grim reaper- I will protect this world." Kid moved to jump from the hole when he was suddenly yanked backwards by the collar of his shirt.

"Hey!" Kid yelped and instinctively spun around, aiming his gun at his capturers head.

"You weren't planning on going without me, right?" Neko smirked and let go of the boy's suit.

"N- Neko! You're here!" Kid looked astonished and smiled at the girl.

"Shh!" Neko looked around, worried about someone- that person mainly being Excalibur- overhearing them.

"But you're here and- and…" Kid trailed off while staring at Neko's neck.

"What?" Neko's smile broadened, already knowing what the boy had seen.

"Your sanzu lines… another one connected." Kid delicately touched the lines that now made two pale rings around her neck.

"Yeah." Neko chuckled and glanced down at the quickly closing sphere. "Come on!"

Neko grabbed Kid's wrist and jumped past the crumbling floor, falling through the air towards their destination.

Beelzebub appeared beneath her and let the two teens land on it before continuing down through a narrow gap in the blackening orb.

Kid landed beside Neko and looked around as Black Star also jumped into the arena, followed shortly after by Maka.

"Yo, Maka, you're a little late, aren'tcha?" Black Star smirked.

"Sorry, I had some things to take care of." Maka replied while poising her scythe.

"No need to apologize, you did nothing wrong- you're here aren't you?" Neko looked back at the miester.

"Yeah, I'm here." Maka nodded, obviously surprised and relieved that Neko was not only alive but also fighting the kishen with them.

"So, we all began this battle at different places, and yet here we are back together at the end of it." Kid looked at his surroundings.

"Yup, I'm not complaining." Maka smirked.

"Yeah. Neither am I." Black Star bent farther into a readied attack position.

"I wouldn't want to do it any other way." Neko stayed completely still in her crouching position.

"Alright, keep a tight rein on your souls at all times- do _not_ let down your guard. If you do, the madness will consume you." Kid reminded and warned. "We can't afford to let that happen."

"We know." Maka replied grimly.

"He got me last time," Black Star grumbled, "but this time I'm going to make him pay!"

"Come on, let's do what we came here to finish." Neko shifted her weight backwards and looked at the other three teens.

Kid's pistols shifted quickly into cannons while Maka's scythe transformed into a more powerful form.

"Okay guys, are we ready?" Maka bent her legs, ready to run. "Listen up! Soul is about to play. Everyone ready?"

Neko sighed as she felt the four souls connect to each other.

The first cord struck through the air as the group began running, Neko's electricity danced from her finger tips and etched lines randomly until her arms were covered in the purple and green glow.

"Ha!" Neko sent out a huge wall of electricity which struck the Kishen at the same time as Kid's bullets.

The teens bounced away after Maka finished her attack.

"His skin is as strong as armor!" Black Star stared up at the monster.

"Our attacks are working though, let's keep it coming." Kid encouraged the group. "Ready to go, Maka? Neko, are you ready too?" Kid looked at the two girls.

"Yeah, let's get him!" Neko ran forward and flipped over a pile of rocks, she used her ability to control the frequencies to pick up the boulders and throw them at Asura, a covering of electricity draped over each of them.

Neko watched as the rest of the group attacked shortly after her before jumping away from her position and regrouping with the other teens.

"Are you sure this is working?" Black Star looked for any sign of weakness on the man.

"Yes, I'm positive! Just look around you; the barrier he set up is starting to weaken. That's proof we're doing something."

"We're resonating well together too- if we keep this up, we have a possibility of beating him." Neko frowned.

"Go!" Black Star ran forward along with the rest of the group.

Neko followed the rest of the teens and shot a bolt of lightning at the Kishen's face.

"Keep going!" Kid shouted, spinning around as he landed so that he could shoot another round at Asura. "Let's pick up the tempo!"

The small group of four attacked harder, hearing the music growing stronger and faster.

"Ah! Genie hunt-" Maka ran forward and was cut short as the music suddenly stopped.

The other three teens looked at the thin girl as she fell across the rock before picking herself up and looking at the limp body of her weapon. "_Soul!_"

The Kishen stood up and laughed hysterically at the groups futile efforts to beat him.

"That's impossible!" Black Star looked at Asura.

"There's no sign of a single injury!" Kid looked over the monster desperately for any sign of being hurt.

Neko sighed with annoyance toward the Kishen before turning around and looking with worry at Maka.

"Soul! Soul!" Maka shook the boy in hopes that he would do something. "Wake up!"

"Maka." Neko put a calming hand on Maka's shoulder but the girl quickly shrugged it off.

"What's going on?" Black Star looked at the miester and weapon, "why's he just laying there?"

"I don't understand what's wrong with him either." Kid glanced at Maka and Soul. "Maybe…"

The kishen laughed before explaining, "You're friend bit off more than he could chew. He did whatever he had to, to push all your powers to the maximum potential, which put all the burden on himself." The man laughed. "This has been a long time coming, indeed."

"Because of the black blood he has in his body?" Maka looked up.

"Ever power comes with a price." Asura replied. "In this case it was his sanity."

"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!" Black Star shouted angrily.

"Be quiet, he's trying to provoke us. We can't afford to get caught up in that." Kid said to Black Star.

"That's right, let's focus on what need our help right now." Neko nodded.

"Why should I care? This is _my_ show; he can say anything he wants to me. One way or another, he's still going to die_ today_!" Black Star ran forward and pushed his soul wavelength into the air, making the disoriented figures disappear back into Asura.

Kid stared at the Kishen with shock, "I shouldn't be surprised; this is Black Star we're talking about after all."

"Let's do something about this guy!" Neko ran forward and threw a ball of lightning at the monster.

"Yeah," Kid pulled his cannons up to chest height and fired at the same time Black Star ran forward and attacked with his enchanted sword.

Neko shot two bolts of lightning at the Kishen before falling back and standing next to Kid.

"Please Soul, please come back." Maka begged behind Kid and Neko.

"What're you doing?" Black Star snapped. "Go get Soul!"

"Maka, you're the only one that can save him now, it's all up to you!" Kid stared at the girl kneeling on the ground.

"Hurry up and bring that idiot back!" Black Star added.

"Yeah, get going." Neko nodded.

"Kid, Black Star, Neko, are you sure?" Maka looked at the group.

"Do what you need to," kid reassured. "I promise, we'll find a way to keep the Kishen back."

Neko nodded in agreement and smiled encouragingly.

"What're you two talking about? By the time she gets back it'll be all over." Black Star smiled. "It's just too bad for you Maka, unfortunately for you it looks like you're going to miss the chance to watch my best show yet.

Asura laughed. "Foolish children, you can't say that."

Kid shot multiple rounds of cannon fire at the man, "Stop talking! This decision doesn't concern you even in the slightest."

"You should shut up and start getting ready to fight me!" Black Star ran at the monster and attacked him.

"Don't worry Maka, we'll protect you." Neko smiled before turning and running away to join Black Star and Kid.

Kid shot his cannons at the Kishen, Black Star followed by attacking with his sword, Neko finished by throwing a lightning bolt or a ball of lightning at him. The three teens attacked relentlessly, quickly developing a pattern to follow; shoot, slash, shock, repeat. Shoot, slash, shock, repeat. This went on for several minutes, all of them attacking at different places but following the same pattern.

"Ya ha!" Black Star attacked before landing.

Asura yawned deeply before flicking the blue-haired miester, sending him flying into a pile of rocks.

"Are you okay?" Kid turned to look at the other boy and was flicked in the same direction.

"Hey!" Neko frowned and jumped over the finger meant to hit her, nimbly dodging it.

Asura paused for a second before slapping her with his hand, sending her crashing into the stone between Kid and Black Star.

"I'm… so… _bored_!" Asura whined before turning to look at Maka. "Now… die!"

Neko ran forward with the two boys and blocked the man's attack. Kid and Black Star standing in front of Maka and Soul while Neko stood behind, creating an electric shield in front of the five teens.

"I'm not going to let you hurt them… ever." Black Star frowned. "See, I made a promise to a friend of mine."

"We keep the promises we make," Kid added. "It's an academy thing- you wouldn't get it."

Neko let down the shield and smirked. "No one is powerful enough to make us break those promises either- not even you."

"Kishen Asura, you die today." Kid declared bravely.

The monster remained silent, observing them carefully.

"Black Star, Neko, are you ready for this?" Kid called out.

The two teens looked at him quizzically.

"I've got to find a way to hold him back." Kid frowned.

"Ha! Hold him back? Give me a break! I don't know about you, but I've got bigger plans then that; I'm gonna kill this guy!" Black Star stated arrogantly, ignoring the glares and frowns from Kid and Neko.

"Ya!" The three teens charged at the Kishen, putting more power and energy than ever into their attacks.

Kid split away and ran to the right while Black Star broke away to the left, Neko stayed on course heading straight down the center towards Asura.

"Ah!" Black Star swung his sword back and forth, staying just out of reach of the Kishen's hand.

"Death Cannon." Kid frowned as he repeatedly fired at the man's face.

"Ha!" Neko sent wave after wave of lightning and electricity, throwing Asura back and forth as he tried to find a way to deflect the electricity like he was doing with the sword and gunfire.

Neko and Black Star retreated and landed next to Kid.

"Anything?" Neko looked around for any signs that the barrier was fading any more.

The Kishen groaned and twisted his neck to the side, "Thanks for the excellent massage, it was quite rejuvenating, I thought I'd never get that crick of my neck."

Kid growled quietly. "We need to do something; we're losing ground quickly."

"Losing ground?" The kishen looked at the small group. "But that implies you gained some to begin with." He held his hand out and sent out a burst of energy that sent the three children soaring into different parts of the battle field.

"When you're up against a power as strong as mine is, it's not a question of gaining ground or making progress- it's a question about staying alive." Asura looked at the boy laying on his stomach and then looked at the other two teens who were crumpled against the rocks. "Unfortunately for you, that particular question isn't going to have a pleasant answer." He growled.

Kid groaned as he sat up, "You're right. With the level of attack we're using now… we're not even going to put a dent in you…"

Neko scowled and stood up, standing defensively in front of Kid. "In which case- we're just going to attack harder!" Neko ran at the man as she sent bolts of lightning at him, efficiently preventing him from attacking her while she was charging.

As she reached a large pile of rocks she shot out an extra long bolt of electricity, grabbing it at the last moment and skillfully turning it into a whip.

"Ha!" Neko flipped with the weapon and dodged the man's hand; she struck the grey limb with the plasma line which caused a searing red and black line to appear.

"Ahh," Asura pulled his hand back and rubbed it. "Dang girl!"

"Yeah, a girl that just might be stronger then you!" Neko jumped, using the Kishen's leg as a lever, and launched herself in front of his face.

"Might is the key word- because you just made the biggest mistake of your ending life!" Asura gagged slightly as Vajra appeared in his mouth and he fired a shot, striking the girl and sending her crashing into the rocks next to Death the Kid.

"Neko!" Kid ran over and grabbed her, shocked when he saw her last line glowing before connecting with a loud boom.

Kid put his ear to her chest and heard Neko's heart thumping loudly. _She's alive… she's just knocked out. Now there's two- no, Soul's here- Three people to protect! I'll do it._ Kid turned around and faced Asura, preparing to attack him with every ounce of energy he had.

* * *

><p>Neko looked around at her surroundings, not entirely sure where she was now.<p>

"Hello?" She walked forward in the blank, white room. She looked around again and saw a figure in the distance, walking slowly toward her.

"Hello? Who are you? Where am I?" Neko cautiously crept toward the figure.

"Hello? Who are you?" The person answered.

Neko stopped walking and eyed the figure, looking for any signs of weapons before replying. "My name is Neko Reaper- but everyone calls me Neko Grey."

"Neko?" The voice sounded alerted and after a few seconds Neko realized that the figure was running at her.

"Oh, Neko!" The figure was in front of her and had picked her off her feet, twirling her in the air, before she even had time to think or act.

"Oh, I've been worried about you so much- how have you been?" The figure set her on her feet.

Neko looked up dizzily and waited for the double vision to go away before recognizing the man.

He wore a black, button down, shirt, black dress pants, and a black and purple trench coat, a skull mask was pushed up to sit on top of his hair.

"F-father?" Neko stared suspiciously at the reaper in front of her eyes and took a step back.

The man nodded, still wearing his goofy smile.

"Where am I?" Neko asked calmly before a random, but oddly rational thought, came into her head. "Am I dead?"

"What?" Grim looked down at his daughter, who had panic building up in her eyes. "No! Of course not, dear." He wrapped his arms around the girl delicately and sat down.

"Where am I then? And how're you here- you're dead." Neko looked around with fear but stayed with her dad.

"Well… I'm not entirely sure." Grim chuckled at his honesty and looked around the blank room.

"Limbo?" Neko looked up at the unmasked face.

"No, as I said; you're not dead." The reaper smiled gently and looked down at the child with humor.

"Oh… um…" Neko's eyebrows scrunched together as she wracked her brain to think of more places.

"Think of somewhere a little closer to yourself." Grim tapped his daughter's head gently.

"My brain?" Neko looked up at the tall man.

Grim Reaper shook his head 'no'. "Something that is surrounding you right now."

"Insanity? We're in insanity." Neko frowned, disbelieving for a second, she looked around again and realized how much it would make sense.

Grim looked down at the innocent-eyed girl wrapped in his arms. "You look so much more mature."

"Well, a lot had happened." Neko shrugged.

Grim frowned. "I know- and I'm sorry to have put you through all of that."

"It was never your fault." Neko shrugged again and pulled out of the very long hug that her father had been giving her.

"So, why am I here?" Neko stood up and turned to watch as Grim stood up as well, towering over her by at least two heads more.

"I don't know." Grim shrugged.

"I don't either." Neko frowned.

"Well, therein lies the problem." The older reaper pointed out.

"What?" Neko cocked her head to show that she was confused.

Grim chuckled. "It's your problem- I can't figure it out for you."

"Oh… yeah… I guess that wou-" Neko was cut off by another voice.

"Hello? Is anybody here?" Kid's voice came from not so far away.

"Who's that?" Grim frowned and turned.

"That's Kid." Neko looked around for a third figure.

"Kid? Who's kid?" Grim looked down at the girl standing next to him.

"You don't know who Kid is?" Neko looked up at the man.

"No… it sounds a little familiar…" Grim shrugged and turned back to looking for the source of the voice.

Neko frowned.

Grim shrugged and put up his hands in defense.

"You're really not helping." Neko's face dead-panned until she caught a glimpse of black and white out of the corner of her eye. "Kid?" Neko turned to see Kid staring at her with surprise.

"Neko? How'd you get here? Where are we?" Kid asked questions before he could stop himself from gushing them out.

"I came here after… after…" Neko's brow furrowed again with thought.

"Asura shot you." Kid finished her sentence.

"Yeah, that… and I don't know where we are- I think we've been sucked into some sort of insanity, though. At least that's what my father's told me." Neko motioned to the tall man standing next to her.

Kid stared up at the reaper and bowed politely. "It's an honor to meet you, sir."

"Yes… same here… Kid." Grim was eyeing him oddly. "Kid? As in Death the Kid? Lord Death's son?"

Kid nodded.

"Ah! Yes, I remember you now- you've grown." Grim smiled.

"Yes." Kid nodded again before facing Neko. "How do we get out of here?"

Grim frowned. "Get out?"

Neko turned to look at her father, "yes, get out- we can't stay here."

"Yes, absolutely correct… there should be a door somewhere in that direction." Grim pointed in front of him.

"Thanks." Neko smiled and moved to hug him goodbye but before she could get to him, he vanished.

"Well, let's go." Kid grabbed Neko's hand and the two teens began running in the endless white light.

"Where do you think it could be?" Neko panted, tired of running after a few minutes.

"There's something up there maybe we can ask for directions." Kid suggested.

The teens ran forward to find a sign that pointed in only one direction; the direction they were traveling.

"Door." Kid read the sign as the two teens stared at it and turned to face forward to see a blue and purple door standing right in front of them.

"That wasn't there a second ago." Neko frowned.

"Should we open it?" Kid squeezed Neko's hand.

Neko swallowed hard before nodding.

"Okay… here we go." Kid turned the knob and a black flash came over them, leaving them seeing spots.

* * *

><p>Kid and Neko groaned as they sat up in the rubble, they could hear someone talking and suddenly recognized it as Maka.<p>

"They were wrong. That isn't my greatest power- not at all." Maka groaned.

"Are you saying… you little fool!" Asura spoke softly.

"Maka isn't a fool." Black Star interrupted. "Don't you get it yet? Maka may not be a great star like I am, but she's got something amazing alright…"

"Maka's strength is its own special ability." Kid groaned. "It's war…"

"It's something that can defeat fear…" Neko added.

"It's bravery." The three of them said together.

"That's all? Bravery?" Asura sounded shocked from what Neko could hear, she felt a dizzy spell flush over her head, blocking out her hearing. She could make out that Maka was speaking and that Asura was yelling, but beyond that- nothing made sense.

A deep rumble sounded under her before she felt the ground tilt in two directions, Neko whimpered slightly as she clung to the edge of the rock, her sight and hearing now gone.

"Hang on Neko!" A voice broke through the deafness as Kid's hand wrapped around hers.

"I always will." Neko nodded and held tightly onto Kid's hands.

A bright, heavy wave of energy washed over them before clearing the dust and smoke from the air.

Neko took a deep breath and unscrewed her eyes. The ground was now raised on every different level as it shelved into pillars and layers.

Neko looked around and spotted Maka on the highest one.

"Come on." Kid stood up and pulled Neko off of the edge and set her on her feet before turning with her and walking with Black Star and all of the weapons to where Maka stood.

"You did it Maka." Soul chuckled, standing up to join Black Star, Kid, and Neko. "You really are amazing… coolest partner ever."

"The sky's all pretty now!" Patty cheered happily.

"Well done! We defeated the Kishen_ and_ bad weather! How 'bout that?" Black Star cheered with her.

"Ha ha! We win! We win! The sky's blue!" Patty thrust her fists into the air with victory.

"Well, we finally did it." Tsubaki smiled.

"But there's still a lot of work ahead of us." Liz added.

"Yeah, like repairing Death City and rebuilding the Academy." Neko shrugged.

Liz sighed. "Well, at least we can celebrate that the Kishen's gone now, right?

"We can't be too happy." Kid frowned and looked up at Maka as the rest of the group gathered around to hear what Kid had to say. "People still inhabit this world, so there will always be more evil to face. We were able to scrape through this time because of Maka, but sooner or later another kishen will rise up."

"It'll be okay." Maka reassured. "When it does come, we'll be there. Besides, there's a lot more to people then evil thoughts and bad deeds. There's bravery, everybody has that!"

The group stared at her for a second before another voice interrupted them.

"Hiya! Congrats!" Neko and Kid whipped around first to see Lord Death hopping along the rocks with Spirit, Stein, Excalibur, Justin, and several other people trailing along.

"Father!" Kid burst from his place and plowed into the older reaper, nearly knocking him over in the process.

"Hey, Kiddo! You feeling okay?" Lord Death returned the tight hug and checked the boy until he nodded that he was fine.

"Fool!" Excalibur met Neko halfway as she was making her way to Lord Death and smacked her on the head with his cane.

"You know what?" Neko stared at him. "Give me that!" Neko snatched the blue cane away from the creature and wacked him across the head, knocking his hat off, before chucking the cane across the rocks and using electricity to it shatter into splinters. "You need to learn better communication skills."

Excalibur stared at her and felt his eyes open wide as the last bits of sawdust drifted to the stone ground. "My cane!" Was all he was able to get out.

Neko continued her walk forward.

"Neko!" Justin opened his arms and smiled as she walked into his hug.

"Hey!" Neko chuckled.

"Are you okay?" Neko eyed the cut across the weapon's cheek.

"Yeah, perfectly fine." Justin shrugged and released her so that the girl could continue to Lord Death.

"I'm glad to see that you're okay." Neko smiled at the reaper who was still hugging Kid at the time.

"Yeah… but come here- you need a hug too!" Lord Death opened one arm, keeping the other one wrapped tightly around Kid, and enclosed it around the girl as she came forward.

"Thank you for helping, fully fledged reaper." Lord Death whispered in the girl's ear, making Neko realize that her last sanzu line had unlocked.

Neko gasped slightly and moved her arm to touch her neck. "Oh…"

"Well, it's good to see that you two are okay- now to check on other people." Lord Death stood up and pushed the teens together, quickly turning his back to them.

The two reapers stared at the man for a moment before realizing why he had done such a thing and turned towards each other.

"Are you feeling okay?" Neko stared at Kid's chest worryingly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kid smiled and looked Neko over at the same time. "How about you?"

Neko nodded.

"Good." Kid stepped closer to the girl.

It was then that Neko could hear the whispers coming from the group behind them.

"Come on, Kid! Kiss her!" Black Star called out suddenly, the rest of the group gave shouts of agreement.

"Hey!" Neko shouted in mock anger at the group before turning around to speak to Kid. But she instead found her lips locked perfectly with the boy's.

Kid's hand wrapped carefully around her waist as Neko did the same.

Slowly Kid pulled away and realized that he had dipped her low to the ground and that Neko was grasping his shoulders as she smiled up at him.

"Whoa." Kid chuckled.

"Yeah." Neko returned the light-hearted laugh.

"Encore! Encore!" The group cheered and applauded happily.

Kid and Neko glanced at them before smiling and kissing again.


	41. Epilogue

_ I would like to dedicate this chapter to EVERYONE who has read this story and followed Kid and Neko's journey until the end. Here's to you!_

* * *

><p><strong>Epilogue<strong>

* * *

><p> Neko sighed happily as she cuddled with kid on the balcony of their house.<p>

As she looked into the bluish-black of the midnight sky, glowing with tiny sparkling white lights, she couldn't help but go over all that had happened to her since coming to the DWMA.

Memories of how she met all of her friends for the first time; Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Death the Kid, Liz, Patty, Crona, and all of the quirky but loveable staff.

She remembered the time that Lord Death had found her and Kid in the library after Kid's meltdown.

She remembered the first time Kid had asked her to dance, that memory was slightly tainted by the escape of Asura later that night.

The mime that she and Kid had to fight still gave her shivers if she thought about it for too long. She let her memories skip a few years; to her graduation.

She had graduated in second place- 0.01 percent of a point under Maka, much to Ox's horror and depression.

She smiled and hugged closer to Kid as she recollected the graduation dance that happened later that night, about how she and Kid had danced for nearly an hour before Kid had broke away from her without a single word and had left her, standing in the middle of the dance floor, confused, alone, feeling abandoned.

After a few minutes of waiting for him she started looking for her date, shortly after beginning her search she spotted him on the stage in front of her.

In front of everybody there he had gotten done on his knees and had requested her to marry him.

She, of course, said yes- much to Kid's and Lord Death's delight.

Her mind fast-forwarded another three years, to the present, and showed her how happy a pair of twenty-year-old people could be together.

Neko's breath shook slightly, under the weight of it all, causing Kid to tighten his hug around Neko and lay his head against hers as a way to try to comfort her.

Neko smiled at this and forced all of her memories out of her head, determined to focus on the present.

She looked up at the stars, all happy to just float around, flickering through space.

Her ears strained to hear anything, but when they couldn't, Neko simply let herself smile wider, hug Kid closer, and continued to watch the sky as she sat with Kid, cuddling happily in the

_Wonderful,_

_Peaceful,_

_Loveable,_

_Blissful,_

_SILENCE._

**The End.**


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